Verotchka (Chekhov)
Short summary
Rural Russia, late 19th century. Ivan Alexeyitch Ognev left the Kuznetsov estate where he had been staying while collecting statistical data. He was grateful for the hospitality shown by old Kuznetsov and his daughter Vera. As he walked away through the moonlit garden, Vera unexpectedly appeared at the gate to say goodbye.
They walked together through the misty night. Ivan lamented never having experienced romance in his life. When they reached a small bridge, Vera became visibly nervous and emotional. She struggled to speak, then finally confessed her feelings.
“I love you!” These words, so simple and ordinary, were uttered in ordinary human language, but Ognev, in acute embarrassment, turned away from Vera, and got up, while his confusion was followed by terror.
Ivan felt no love for Vera despite finding her beautiful. He awkwardly rejected her, causing her great distress. As she hurried home, he felt guilty and confused by his emotional coldness. Walking back to town, he blamed his premature emotional aging on his intellectual lifestyle. Later, he tried to return to the house, hoping to recapture what he had lost, but it was too late.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Ognevs farewell to the Kuznetsovs
On an August evening, Ivan Alexeyitch Ognev left the Kuznetsov home where he had been staying. Dressed in a light cape and straw hat, he carried a bundle of books and notebooks in one hand and a thick walking stick in the other. The elderly master of the house, Kuznetsov, stood at the door holding a lamp to light Ognev's way.
The two men exchanged emotional farewells. Ognev expressed deep gratitude for Kuznetsov's hospitality and assistance with his statistical work. Feeling sentimental from the homemade wine they had consumed, Ognev spoke effusively about how fond he had grown of the family. He promised to acknowledge Kuznetsov's help in the preface of his work. After embracing one final time, Ognev departed down the garden path, wondering if they would ever meet again.
A moonlit walk and reflections on the past summer
As Ognev walked away from the house, his heart was filled with warmth, friendliness, and a touch of sadness. He reflected on how quickly meaningful encounters with good people fade into mere memories. Having spent the spring and summer in the district collecting statistical data, he had become deeply attached to the Kuznetsov family and their home. Now all of this would soon exist only in his memory.
“Nothing in life is so precious as people!” Ognev thought in his emotion, as he strode along the avenue to the gate. “Nothing!”
The garden was filled with a fine mist illuminated by moonlight. Ognev, seeing such a moonlit mist for perhaps the first time in his life, felt as though he were witnessing not nature but a theatrical effect, with white Bengal fire lighting the garden. As he approached the gate, a dark shadow moved toward him from the fence. It was Vera Gavrilovna, Kuznetsov's daughter.
Surprised to find her there, Ognev greeted her warmly. Vera offered to accompany him as far as the woods. They walked together along the road, which was partially obscured by the white mist. Ognev spoke about his lack of romantic experiences despite being twenty-nine years old. He recalled his initial arrival in the district in April, when he had come to collect statistical data and had been warmly welcomed by the Kuznetsovs.
Veras unexpected confession of love
When they reached a small bridge that served as a resting place during evening walks, Vera suggested they sit down. Ognev continued talking, wondering what they would be like if they met again in ten years. He noticed that Vera seemed distracted and asked if something was wrong. She appeared pale and trembling, avoiding his gaze.
With visible difficulty, Vera finally confessed that she loved him. Stunned by this unexpected declaration, Ognev turned away in acute embarrassment. The sentimental mood he had been enjoying suddenly vanished, replaced by awkwardness and discomfort. As he struggled with his reaction, Vera began speaking rapidly and passionately about her feelings.
Telling him of her love, Vera was enchantingly beautiful; she spoke eloquently and passionately, but he felt neither pleasure nor gladness... he felt nothing but compassion for Vera, pity and regret that a good girl should be distressed on his account.
She told him how from their first meeting she had been struck by his intelligence and kindness. She described how her heart would shudder when she heard his voice or saw his cape in the hallway. She found wisdom in every figure in his notebooks and beauty in his walking stick. As she spoke, the copse and mist seemed to listen to her confession.
Ognevs confused reaction and awkward rejection
Despite Vera's eloquence and beauty as she declared her love, Ognev felt only compassion and regret. He was troubled by his own lack of emotional response. Something in him whispered that her feelings were more important than any statistics or books, yet he could not reciprocate her emotions. He found himself completely at a loss for words.
Vera continued speaking passionately, saying she could not bear the everlasting peace and aimless life of the countryside. She longed to be in the big damp houses where people suffered and knew real struggle. When she finished, Ognev still did not know what to say, but felt he must respond somehow.
“I cannot stay here!” she said, wringing her hands. “I am sick of the house and this wood and the air. I cannot bear the everlasting peace and aimless life, I can't endure our colourless, pale people, who are all as like one another as two drops of water!”
Awkwardly, Ognev muttered that he was grateful but felt that happiness depended on equality of feeling. He immediately felt ashamed of his clumsy words and strained expression. Vera must have read the truth on his face, for she suddenly turned pale, bent her head, and began walking rapidly back toward her home. Ognev followed her, feeling increasingly guilty with each step.
He raged inwardly at his coldness and stupidity with women. Though he tried to stir his feelings by looking at Vera's beautiful figure and remembering her words and tears, nothing quickened his pulse. He kept thinking that at nearly thirty, he had never met anyone better than Vera and likely never would. He wondered if he was experiencing premature old age.
The walk home and Ognevs realization of what he lost
At the gate, Vera gave Ognev a quick glance before hurrying down the avenue. Left alone, he walked slowly back to the copse, repeatedly looking back at the gate in disbelief at what had just occurred. For the first time, he experienced how little control a person has over their own feelings and the pain of unintentionally causing another person suffering.
His conscience tormented him, and when Vera disappeared he felt as though he had lost something very precious, something very near and dear which he could never find again. He felt that with Vera a part of his youth had slipped away.
Reaching the bridge, Ognev stopped to reflect on the reason for his strange coldness. He recognized that it came from within himself—not intellectual coldness, but an impotence of soul and inability to be moved by beauty. Overcome with regret for what he had lost, he returned to the garden, hoping to recapture something. In the darkness, he walked around the house several times and stood near Vera's window. The only witness to his return was the dog Karo, who approached him amicably.
An hour later, Ognev arrived at the town inn, exhausted and worn out. As he knocked at the gate, the innkeeper, an Old Believer, grumbled about his late return. Once in his room, Ognev gazed at the light for a long time before beginning to pack his belongings.
He frankly acknowledged to himself that it was not the intellectual coldness of which clever people so often boast, but simply impotence of soul, incapacity for being moved by beauty, premature old age brought on by education.