At this point Piotr Ivanitch drank off a glass and at once poured out some more wine.
" Despicable dissimulation! have recourse to double-
dealing to gain a woman's heart!" remarked Alexandr indignantly.
" You would have recourse to the cudgel; pray, is that any better? By dissembling one may keep some one's affection ; by force—I hardly think so! The desire of getting rid of your rival I understand; in that way you would have succeeded in keeping the woman you love for yourself, you would have forestalled or averted danger—it's very natural! but to kill him because he has inspired love is exactly as though you stumbled and hurt yourself and then hit the place, on which you stumbled, as childen do. You may think as you please, but the Count is not to blame ! I see you know nothing of the mysteries of the heart, that's why your amours and your novels are both in such a poor way."
" Amours !" said Alexandr, shaking his head contemptuously ; " but is a love very flattering or very lasting that is inspired by dissimulation ? "
" I don't know about it being flattering, that's as a man likes to look at it; it's quite a matter of indifference to me. I haven't the highest opinion of love in general—you know that. As far as I'm concerned, I should be glad if there were no such thing at all, but that such a love is more lasting I am sure. There is no dealing straightforwardly with the heart. It is a strange instrument. Inspire a passion however you like, but retain it by your intelligence. Dissimulation—that is one side of intelligence, there is nothing despicable in it. There is no need to disparage your rival and resort to slandering; you would set your charmer against you in that way. . .. you must only shake off him the spangles in which he dazzles her, and set him before her as a plain ordinary man, and not a hero .... I think it is quite excusable to defend one's own interests by honorable forms of dissimulation which are not disdained even in warfare. Why, you were wanting to get married ! a pretty husband you would have been, if you had begun to make scenes with youi wife and show your rival a stick, and you'd none the less have won—ahem !"
Piotr Ivanitch pointed to his forehead.
" Your Varinka was twenty per cent, more sensible than you when she made the condition that you should wait a year."
/\
\
" But could I have acted a part even if I had the ability ? To do this one must not love as I do. Some people pretend sometimes to be cold, and stay away for a few days from policy—and that produces an effect. But for me to try to be politic when, at the sight of her, my soul caught fire and my limbs shook and trembled under me, when I was ready to endure any torture, if only I might see her .... No ! whatever you say, for me there is more rapture in loving with all the strength of the soul, even though one suffers, than in being loved without loving, or in loving in a halfhearted way, as an amusement, on a repulsive, calculated system, and playing with a woman as if she were a lapdog and then throwing her aside."
Piotr Ivanitch shrugged his shoulders.
s> " All right then, suffer, if it's so agreeable to you," he
/ said. " Oh, the provinces ! oh, Asia ! You ought to have
I lived in the East; there they give the women orders whom
j they are to love, and if they don't obey, they drown them.
No, here," he continued as if to himself, " to be happy with
a woman can't be managed on your principles, a madman's
really—but it can be done by prudence—many conditions
are necessary .... one must know how to turn a girl into a
woman on a well-thought-out plan, on a method, if you like,
so that she may understand and fulfil her destination. One
must trace a magic circle round her, not too narrow, so that
she may not be conscious of its limits and may not overstep
them ; one must artfully gain the mastery not only of her
heart—that's something, but it's a slippery and unstable
possession—but of her intelligence, her will, and must make
her tastes, her disposition subject to your own, so that she
may look at things with your eyes, think with your brain."
" That means, make her a doll, or the silent slave of her
_ husband !" interposed Alexandr.
" Why ? You must manage so that she shall lose nothing of her character and dignity as a woman. Allow her liberty of action in her own sphere, but let your shrewd wit keep watch over her every action, every breath, every step, so that the husband's eye, ever wakeful—however outwardly indifferent—may note every passing emotion, every whim, every germ of feeling, everywhere and always. Establish— without her observing it—a perpetual control over her without any kind of tyrannising, and lead her into the ways you
desire Oh, a wonderful and difficult training is wanted,
and the best training is—a husband of intelligence and experience—that's where it all is!"
He coughed significantly and tossed off a glass at one draught.
" Then," he continued, " a husband can sleep in peace when his wife is not beside him, or can sit with his mind at rest in his study while she is asleep/'
" Since I see, uncle," continued Alexandr, " that you sit with mind at rest in your study while my aunt is asleep, I surmise that the husband is "
" Sh, sh ! be quiet,' 7 his uncle began to say, lifting his hand; " it's a good thing my wife's asleep, but "
At this moment the door of the study began very quietly to open, but no one was visible.
" But the wife," said a woman's voice in the corridor, i " must not show that she understands her husband's grand •. system of training and must set up a little system of her , own, without chattering about it over a bottle of wine."
Both the Adouevs rushed to the door, but a sound of quick steps, of fluttering skirts came from the corridor, and all was still again.
The uncle and nephew looked at one another.
"What do you say now, uncle? " asked the nephew, after a pause.
"What, nothing!" said Piotr Ivanitch, knitting his brows. " I have chosen a bad time to boast! Learn, Alexandr, that it's better not to marry, or else choose a fool; you'll not be a match for a clever woman: it's a difficult task to train her!"
He fell into thought, then clapped his hand to his brow.
" How came I not to consider that she would know of your visit so late ? " he said with annoyance, " that a woman will never sleep when there's a secret between two men in the next room, that she'd be certain either to send her maid or come herself .... not to have foreseen it! stupidity ! and it's all your doing, and this cursed glass of Lafitte! I've been blabbing! What a lesson from a girl of twenty . . . ."
" You're uneasy, uncle!"
" What is there to be uneasy about ? not much ! I have
made a mistake, I must not lose my self-possession, but must extricate myself skilfully."
He grew thoughtful again.
" She was boasting," he began again, " what sort of training could she use ? no, that could not be in her power; she is young ! she only said that .... from irritation; but now she has discovered this magic circle, she too will begin to play a part .... oh, I know a woman's nature ! But we shall see.''
He smiled confidently and cheerfully, and his brow grew smooth again.
"What were we talking of? oh yes, I think you were wanting to murder your—what's-her-name ? "
" I despise her from the depths of my soul," said Alexandr, with a heavy sigh.
" There, you see ! you're already halfway to recovery. But is that the truth ? you are still angry, I fancy; you will very likely go back there again."
"What an idea! after this."
u Men do go back after more than that! your word of honour now—not to go ? "