"People have become too learned," repeated the last, looking at the lady with contempt, and leaving her question unanswered.
"I should be curious to know how you explain the correlation between education and conjugal differences," said the lawyer, with a slight smile.
The merchant wanted to make some reply, but the lady interrupted him.
"No, those days are past."
The lawyer cut short her words:--
"Let him express his thought."
"Because there is no more fear," replied the old man.
"But how will you marry people who do not love each other? Only animals can be coupled at the will of a proprietor. But people have inclinations, attachments," the lady hastened to say, casting a glance at the lawyer, at me, and even at the clerk, who, standing up and leaning his elbow on the back of a seat, was listening to the conversation with a smile.
"You are wrong to say that, madam," said the old man. "The animals are beasts, but man has received the law.""But, nevertheless, how is one to live with a man when there is no love?" said the lady, evidently excited by the general sympathy and attention.
"Formerly no such distinctions were made," said the old man, gravely. "Only now have they become a part of our habits. As soon as the least thing happens, the wife says: 'I release you.
I am going to leave your house.' Even among the moujiks this fashion has become acclimated. 'There,' she says, 'here are your shirts and drawers. I am going off with Vanka. His hair is curlier than yours.' Just go talk with them. And yet the first rule for the wife should be fear."The clerk looked at the lawyer, the lady, and myself, evidently repressing a smile, and all ready to deride or approve the merchant's words, according to the attitude of the others.
"What fear?" said the lady.
"This fear,--the wife must fear her husband; that is what fear.""Oh, that, my little father, that is ended."
"No, madam, that cannot end. As she, Eve, the woman, was taken from man's ribs, so she will remain unto the end of the world,"said the old man, shaking his head so triumphantly and so severely that the clerk, deciding that the victory was on his side, burst into a loud laugh.
"Yes, you men think so," replied the lady, without surrendering, and turning toward us. "You have given yourself liberty. As for woman, you wish to keep her in the seraglio. To you, everything is permissible. Is it not so?""Oh, man,--that's another affair."
"Then, according to you, to man everything is permissible?""No one gives him this permission; only, if the man behaves badly outside, the family is not increased thereby; but the woman, the wife, is a fragile vessel," continued the merchant, severely.
His tone of authority evidently subjugated his hearers. Even the lady felt crushed, but she did not surrender.
"Yes, but you will admit, I think, that woman is a human being, and has feelings like her husband. What should she do if she does not love her husband?""If she does not love him!" repeated the old man, stormily, and knitting his brows; "why, she will be made to love him."This unexpected argument pleased the clerk, and he uttered a murmur of approbation.
"Oh, no, she will not be forced," said the lady. "Where there is no love, one cannot be obliged to love in spite of herself.""And if the wife deceives her husband, what is to be done?" said the lawyer.
"That should not happen," said the old man. "He must have his eyes about him.""And if it does happen, all the same? You will admit that it does happen?""It happens among the upper classes, not among us," answered the old man. "And if any husband is found who is such a fool as not to rule his wife, he will not have robbed her. But no scandal, nevertheless. Love or not, but do not disturb the household.
Every husband can govern his wife. He has the necessary power.
It is only the imbecile who does not succeed in doing so."Everybody was silent. The clerk moved, advanced, and, not wishing to lag behind the others in the conversation, began with his eternal smile:
"Yes, in the house of our employer, a scandal has arisen, and it is very difficult to view the matter clearly. The wife loved to amuse herself, and began to go astray. He is a capable and serious man. First, it was with the book-keeper. The husband tried to bring her back to reason through kindness. She did not change her conduct. She plunged into all sorts of beastliness.
She began to steal his money. He beat her, but she grew worse and worse. To an unbaptized, to a pagan, to a Jew (saving your permission), she went in succession for her caresses. What could the employer do? He has dropped her entirely, and now he lives as a bachelor. As for her, she is dragging in the depths.""He is an imbecile," said the old man. "If from the first he had not allowed her to go in her own fashion, and had kept a firm hand upon her, she would be living honestly, no danger. Liberty must be taken away from the beginning. Do not trust yourself to your horse upon the highway. Do not trust yourself to your wife at home."At that moment the conductor passed, asking for the tickets for the next station. The old man gave up his.
"Yes, the feminine sex must be dominated in season, else all will perish.""And you yourselves, at Kounavino, did you not lead a gay life with the pretty girls?" asked the lawyer with a smile.
"Oh, that's another matter," said the merchant, severely.
"Good-by," he added, rising. He wrapped himself in his cloak, lifted his cap, and, taking his bag, left the car.
