services are indispensable to yourself,
personally?' — 'By no means; neither the girl
nor her services are at all necessary to me.'
— 'Well, then, why will you not consent to
part with her?'— 'Because I do not choose;
I will not give her up; and that is all I have
to say about it. I have given my orders, and
they are irrevocable. I have sent her to a
village which I possess in the Steppes.'

"This speech made me feel as if a flash of
lightning had gone through my brain. The
old lady said a few words in French to the
young woman in green, who thereupon
instantly left the room.— 'You must know,' she
then said to me, 'I am a woman of principle;
besides that, the delicate state of my health,
which makes me incompetent to suffer the
least agitation. You are still a young man;
I, on the other hand, am a very old woman,
which entitles me to offer you a little advice.
Would it not be as well if you were to think
of settling; if you were to choose a suitable
match, and get married honourably and
respectably? Girls with large fortunes are
scarce; and as nothing is ever gained by
marrying beneath one's own rank, we might
find you up a respectable girl who, though
not endowed with worldly riches, would
bring you the wealth of the heart and the
treasures of morality.'

"At this proposition, sir, I stared at the
old woman. I did not comprehend in the
least what she was prating about. I heard
that she talked of my getting married; I
almost guessed that she had some one whom
she wanted to provide for before she turned
up the whites of her eyes. It was very kind
on her part, and came cheaper than a legacy.
But she also mentioned a village in the
Steppes to which perhaps they were dragging
Matrèna at the very moment that she was
persuading me to marry her toad-eater. I
was boiling with rage. I said to the old
match-maker; 'Well, madame, have we been
beating about the bush all this while for
nothing? I did not want your advice as to
whom to marry; I simply wanted to know
whether you would consent or not, for a
pecuniary consideration, to part with the girl
Matrèna, your subject.'— Instantly old lady
number two rose, flashing furious glances at
me, and approached with the greatest solicitude
old lady number one, who began uttering
'Oh's!' and 'Ah's!' as if I had been the
devil in person. 'Ah! This man has quite
upset me. Oh! there, there, make him leave
the room. Send him away directly; oh!
dear me, oh!'— Number two began shouting
at me so effectually that I could not get in a
single word of excuse. Number one, on her
part, moaned like a spoiled child in a fit of
the colic, and said, 'What have I done to
deserve such treatment as this? I suppose I
am not to be mistress over my own serfs. I
am not to do as I like in my own house. Oh!
Ouf! Ah! Aïe!'

"I rushed out, and made my escape as fast
as I could, as if I were pursued by a whole
legion of vipers led on by a pack of witches.

"Perhaps," continued M. Karataëf, "you
yourself will judge me rather harshly for
having formed so strong an attachment to a
woman belonging to the servile class. I was
wrong, I confess; and I do not attempt to
justify my weakness. I relate the facts, and
nothing more. After this, I had not a
moment's repose; I tormented myself night
and day, reproaching myself with having
brought the poor girl into serious trouble. I
pictured her to myself as keeping geese in a
coarse smock-frock, with the body part spotted
and stained with grease, groaning morning
and evening under the frightful insults of a
brutal village elder,— a peasant in heavy
boots smeared with pitch,— and I fell into a
cold perspiration at the mere idea of these
horrors, which, after all, might be merely
imaginary.

"At last, being unable to control my
impatience, I obtained information. I discovered
to what village Matrèna had been banished;
I jumped on horseback and rode thither.
With all the haste I could make, I did not
reach it till the evening of the next day. I
easily perceived that they had not expected I
should play them such a prank as that, and
that no precautions had been taken, nor any
orders given, in respect to myself. I went
straight to the elder's house, just as any other
neighbouring seigneur of the Steppe would
have done.

"As soon as I entered the court, I caught
sight of Matrèna, who was sitting under the
entrance-porch, with her head leaning on her
hand. After the first moment of surprise,
she was going to utter an exclamation of joy;
but I made signs to her to dissimulate her
feelings, pointing in the direction of the fields
that lay towards the west and out of sight of
the cottages. I went into the elder's house,
and told that worthy a cock-and-bull story
which completely threw them off the track of
my personality; and when the moment
favourable to my project had arrived, I
hastened away to meet Matrèna. I easily
found her, and the poor little darling hung
round my neck; she could not cease from
kissing my hands and my hair. Poor little
dove, she was pale; she had grown much
thinner. I said to her, 'There, there, have
done with that, and don't cry; come, I won't
have you cry.'— It was easy to say so, but I
myself was crying like a woman. Nevertheless,
I was ashamed of myself. ' Matrèna,' I
resumed, 'tears are but a poor remedy for a
heavy misfortune. You must summon up a
little resolution; you must escape from this
place; I will take you up on horseback
behind me; that is the only chance we have.'
— 'What a desperate measure! Recollect that
if I take such a step as that, they will set
upon me like furies. Ah! yes; they will
tear me to pieces!'— 'Silly girl! Who should
find you out?'— 'They will be sure to find