A Universal Download Edition

Exiled to Siberia
Tolstoy, Leo, Graf
Cosmopolitan 3 (April 1887)

"God knows the truth, but he does not at once make it manifest."
IN the city of Vladimir lived a young merchant named Askenov. He owned two
stores and a dwelling-house.
Askenov was attractive in person, blonde, curly-headed, and a lover of jollity and
song. He drank in his youth, and when intoxicated he quarreled. But when once married
he drank very rarely.
One day in summer he decided to attend the fair at Nijni-Novogorod. As he was
bidding his family farewell, his wife said to him:
"Ivan, do not go to-day; I had a bad dream about you."
Askenov began to laugh, and replied:
"You fear I will commit some folly at the fair."
His wife answered: "I do not myself exactly know what I fear; only I had a bad
dream. I saw you as you came from the city. You took off your cap, and all at once I saw
that your head was quite white."
Askenov began to laugh more cheerily still. "Ah well! it is a good sign," he said. "I
shall do a good business, and will bring you a beautiful present."
So he took leave of his family and departed. Midway in his journey he met an
acquaintance, a merchant, with whom he lodged that night. They drank tea together, and
went to sleep in adjoining rooms.
Askenov was not a heavy sleeper. He awoke in the middle of the night, and, to
travel more comfortably in the coolness of the morning, aroused the postilion, and ordered
him to put the horses before the wagon. Then he entered the dim office, paid the landlord,
and went away.
After having traveled forty miles, he stopped again to feed the horses, rested
himself at the hotel, went out upon the door-step and had his samovar prepared. He took a
guitar and began to play. All at once a troika with its gong arrives. A state functionary
with two soldiers descends, approaches Askenov, and inquires of him who he is and
whither he is going. Askenov excuses himself from replying, but asks him to take some
tea. The official, however, continues to press his questions. Where had he slept the night
before? Was he alone with the merchant? Why had he left the inn so precipitantly?
Askenov, surprised by these interrogatories, related what had taken place, then
said: "Why do you ask me so many questions? I am neither a thief nor a brigand. I am
traveling on my own business, and no one has a right to question me."
The official then called his soldiers and replied: "I am a police commissioner, and
if I question you it is because the merchant with whom you passed the night was
murdered. Show your baggage -- and you others, search it."

WWW.UDownloadBooks.Com

A Universal Download Edition

They entered the hotel-office, took his trunk and satchel, opened them, and in the
latter found a knife.
The officer exclaimed, "Whose is this knife?" Askenov turned to look, saw a blade
covered with blood, and became terror-stricken.
"And why this blood on the knife?"
Askenov tried to reply, but he could not utter a word.
"I -- I do not know -- I -- A knife -- I -- It is not mine," he stammered at last.
The police commissioner said: "This morning the merchant was found murdered in
bed. No one except yourself could have committed the crime. The rooms were locked
from the inside, and within was no one but you and he. Moreover, a knife covered with
blood has been found in your bag. Besides, your crime can be read in your face. Confess at
once how you killed him, and how much money you stole."
Askenov called God to witness that he was not guilty; that he had not seen the
merchant after having taken tea with him; that he had only his own money, eight thousand
roubles, and that the knife was not his. But his voice was husky, his face had become pale,
and he trembled like a criminal.
The officer called his soldiers, and ordered them to bind him and place him in the
carriage. When they had done so, Askenov, with his feet in irons, crossed himself and
began to weep. They took away all his effects, with his money, and put him in prison in
the neighboring city.
An inquest was held at Vladimir. All the merchants and inhabitants declared that
Askenov, though he had been in the habit of drinking and amusing himself when a young
man, was regarded as an honorable person. Then the matter came before the courts. He
was accused of having murdered the merchant Riazan, and of having robbed him of twenty
thousand roubles.
His wife was in despair, and knew not what to think. Her children were all small,
one of them still at the breast. She took them all with her, and went to the city where her
husband was imprisoned. At first they refused to let her see him; but as she insisted, she
was allowed that privilege. When she saw him in his prison clothes, shackled, mingling
with robbers, she fell to the ground, and some time passed before she came to herself
again. Then she gathered her children about her, seated herself by Askenov's side, told him
of what was going on at home, and asked him to relate how his misfortune had come
about. He told her all, and she asked:
"What is to be done now?"
"We must supplicate the Czar," he replied; "for it can not be that the innocent
should be punished."
His wife then told him that she had already sent a petition to the Czar; "but it
could not have been sent to him," she said.
Askenov made no reply, and remained overwhelmed.
His wife said: "My dream was not in vain. Do you remember it? I saw you with
white hair. It will now become white with grief. You ought not to have gone that time."
She began to stroke his hair with her hand, and said:
"My dear Ivan, speak the truth to your wife. Was it not you who killed him?"
"Askenov replied: "And you, also, think so!" He hid his face in his hands and
wept.

WWW.UDownloadBooks.Com

A Universal Download Edition

A soldier appeared. He told the wife and children that it was time for them to go,
and Askenov bade his family farewell for the last time.
When his wife was gone he mentally reviewed his conversation with her.
Recollecting that she also had asked him if he had not murdered the merchant, he said to
himself: "God alone knows the truth. Him I must implore. I will await his mercy." And
from that moment he ceased to ask for human aid, lifted up his soul in hope, and prayed
continually to God.
Askenov was sentenced to the knout, and then to hard labor for life. The sentence
was carried out. He was beaten with the knout, and when his wounds were healed they
sent him, with other life convicts, to Siberia.
There Askenov remained at hard labor for twenty-six years. His hair became white
as snow, and his long gray beard hung limply from his face. All his gayety disappeared. He
began to stoop and to lag in his gait. He spoke but little, and never laughed. He frequently
prayed to God.
In prison he learned to make shoes, and with the money thus earned bought a
book of martyrs, which he read when there was light in his dungeon. On festal days he
attended the prison chapel, read the Apostles, and sang in the choir. He never lost his
beautiful voice. The officials loved him for his docility; his companions held him in high
regard, called him "grandfather" and "man of God." When the convicts demanded any
thing, it was always Askenov who was made to present their request. When the prisoners
quarreled, it was again Askenov whom they chose as arbitrator. No one wrote him from
home, and Askenov knew not whether his wife and children were still living.
One day new convicts were taken to the prison. In the evening the old ones asked
of the new from what cities or villages they came, and for what causes. Askenov also
approached, and with inclined head listened to what was said. One of the new convicts
was an old man of sixty years, tall in stature, and with a gray, trimmed beard. He related
the reasons for his doom.
"It is thus, my brothers," he said, "they have sent me here for nothing. I detached
a horse from a sleigh; they seized me, saying I stole it. And I -- I replied: 'I only wished to
travel more rapidly; you see indeed that I have let the horse loose. No crime has been
committed.' 'No,' they said; 'you have stolen it,' but they knew neither where nor when I
had stolen it. To be sure I was guilty of misdeeds, which ought to have sent me here long
before, but they could never surprise me in the act. And now they have brought me here
contrary to all law. Now, listen. I have already been in Siberia. But I did not remain here
long."
"Whence do you come?" asked one of the convicts.
"I am from the city of Vladimir. I am a small shopkeeper of that place. My name is
Makar."
Askenov raised his head and asked: "Have you not heard the merchant Askenov
spoken of at Vladimir? Are they still alive?"
"Why, to be sure. But they are rich merchants, although their father is in Siberia:
he must have sinned like the rest of us."
Askenov did not like to speak on the subject of his misfortune. He sighed and
said: "It is for my sins that I have been in prison twenty-six years."
Makar asked, "For what sins?"

WWW.UDownloadBooks.Com

A Universal Download Edition

"I merit my punishment," responded Askenov, simply.
He would say nothing more. But the other convicts related to the newly-arrived
why Askenov found himself in Siberia; how some one, during the journey, had murdered
the merchant and placed a bloody knife among Askenov's baggage; and how, by reason of
that, he had been unjustly condemned.
In hearing this, Makar cast a glance upon Askenov, struck his knees with his
hands, and exclaimed:
"Oh, what a wonder! This is a miracle. Ah, you have grown quite old,
grandfather!"
They asked why he was so astonished; where he had seen Askenov. But Makar
did not reply; he merely said: "It is a miracle, brothers, that fate has re-united us here."
These expressions convinced Askenov that this man must be the assassin, and he
said to him: "Have you heard this affair spoken of before, Maker [sic]; or have you indeed
seen me elsewhere than here?"
"What? I have heard it spoken of. The earth is full of ears. [A Russian proverb.]
But it is a long time since that affair took place, and I have forgotten the particulars they
told me."
"Perhaps you learned who killed the merchant?" asked Askenov.
Makar began to laugh, and said: "As it was in your bag the knife was found, you
doubtless killed him yourself. If it should be that some one else put the knife there -- why,
not caught, not a thief. And, moreover, how could he have placed the knife in your bag?
You had it under your head. You must have heard."
On hearing these words, Askenov perceived clearly that he was the person who
had killed the merchant. He arose and went away. All that night Askenov could not sleep.
He fell into profound listlessness, and dreamed dreams. Now it was his wife he saw as she
appeared at the time of that last fair. He saw her still alive, her face, her eyes; he heard her
speak and laugh: now it was his children who appeared to him as they then were, all small,
one in a fur cloak and the other at the breast. He saw himself as he then was, young, lively,
seated and playing the guitar on the doorstep of the tavern, where he was arrested. And he
was reminded of the infamous place where they had whipped him, of the executioner, of
the crowd round about, the irons, convicts, and of the twenty-six years he had spent in
prison. He thought of his old age, and a desire to take his own life seized upon Askenov.
"And all this on account of that brigand!" he thought.
He felt such a passion of wrath against Makar coming over him, that he would
have been willing to perish that hour could he be revenged upon him. He prayed all night
without being able to calm himself. The next morning he did not approach nor look at
Makar.
Fifteen days passed thus. Askenov could not sleep at night, and during the day he
felt such a weariness that he knew not what to do with himself. One night, as he was
walking up and down in the prison, he perceived that earth was being thrown from under
one of the planks used as a bed. He stopped to see what was going on, and all at once
Makar came quickly from beneath the bed, and looked at Askenov with an expression of
terror. The latter wished to pass on so as to avoid looking at him; but Makar seized him by
the hand, and told him how he was digging a tunnel under the wall, how he was in the

WWW.UDownloadBooks.Com

A Universal Download Edition

habit of filling his boots with the earth thrown up and emptying it in the street every
morning when they were taken out to work. He added:
"Only keep quiet, old man. I will take you with me. If you expose me I will be
whipped to the last extremity, but you will pay for it. I will kill you!"
Looking at him who had ruined him, Askenov trembled with anger. He drew away
his hand, and said: "I do not desire to escape, and you will have no need to murder me.
You have already killed me a long time ago. Whether I shall expose you or not is for God
to decide."
The next morning, when the convicts were taken to work, the soldiers noticed
that Makar emptied earth from his boots. An investigation was made in the prison, and the
tunnel was discovered. The overseer came and demanded to know who had excavated it.
Every body denied all knowledge of the matter. Those who knew, did not wish to betray
Makar, as he would be whipped "half-dead" for his offense. The chief then addressed
himself to Askenov.
"Old man," he said, "you who are an upright fellow, tell me who has done this."
Makar remained impassible, looking at the superintendent without turning toward
Askenov. As to the latter, his arms and his legs trembled; he could not say a word.
"Shall I remain silent?" he thought. "But why pardon him, since it is he who has
ruined my life? Let him pay for my tortures. Shall I speak? True, they will whip him nearly
to death, and if it should not be he, if he should not be the assassin I suspect him to be -and then, would it be any solace to me?"
The chief repeated his demand. Askenov looked at Makar, and replied:
"I cannot tell, your highness; God does not permit me, and I shall not tell you. Do
with me as you please. You are master."
Notwithstanding every effort of the chief, Askenov said no more. Thus it was that
no one knew who had dug the tunnel.
The following night, as Askenov was reclining upon his plank-bed trying to sleep,
he heard some one approach and place himself at his feet. Through the obscurity he
recognized Makar. Askenov said to him:
"Have you still further need of me? What are you doing there?"
Makar remained silent, and Askenov raised himself up saying: "What do you
want? Go away, or I will call the watchman."
Makar hung over Askenov and whispered in his ear: "Ivan Askenov, forgive me."
"Why? What should I forgive you?"
"It was I who murdered the merchant, and I put the knife in your bag! I intended
to kill you also, but some one made a noise in the yard. I placed the knife in your bag, and
escaped by the window."
Askenov remained silent, and knew not what to say.
Makar slipped from the bed, prostrated himself on the earth, and said:
"Ivan Askenov, pardon me; in the name of God, pardon me! I will declare that I
killed the merchant; they will set you at liberty, and you can return home."
And Askenov replied: "That is easily said. But I, I have suffered here too long.
Where should I go now? My wife is dead; my children have forgotten me. I have nowhere
to go."

WWW.UDownloadBooks.Com

A Universal Download Edition

Makar, still prostrated and striking the earth with his head, said: "Ivan, pardon me.
If I had been beaten with the knout, that would have been less painful that [sic] to see you
thus. And you still had pity on me; you did not expose me. Pardon me, in the name of
Christ, pardon a wretched malefactor!" And he began to sob.
Hearing Makar weeping, Askenov himself also began to weep.
"God will pardon you. Perhaps I am a hundred times worse than you."
And he felt a sudden joy flooding his soul. He ceased from that moment to grieve
over his home, and no longer desired to leave his prison. He thought only of his last hour.
Makar would not listen to Askenov, and declared himself the guilty one. When the
order came to restore Askenov to liberty, he was already dead.

WWW.UDownloadBooks.Com