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438 life, who does not realize what relations may arise after she has accepted an offer? She may not be able to judge whether she will enjoy her life with the man who is to be her husband."

"But, Mr. Beaumont, if her relations to this man are of a sincere character, such as they had been before he proposed to her, then I think that this would be some guarantee that they would be contented with each other."

"Some guarantee, certainly; but it would be much surer if the trial were longer and more thorough. She cannot know in any way the character of the relation into which she is going to enter; and so marriage is for her a terrible risk. So much for her; and the honorable man who is to marry her has to run the same risk. He can generally judge whether he will be satisfied. He knows intimately women of various natures; he has made trial of what nature suits him the best. She has not that chance."

"But she can observe the lives and characters of those in her own family and in the families of her friends; she can think a great deal."

"All that is good, so far as it goes, but it is not sufficient. Nothing can take the place of a personal trial."

"Would you have only widows get married?" asked Katerina Vasílyevna, laughing.

"You have expressed yourself quite to the point. Only widows; girls should be prohibited from marrying."

"That is true," said Katerina Vasílyevna, seriously.

Such talk as this seemed very wild to Pólozof at first, as he caught fragments of it. But gradually he got accustomed to the thought, and he said to himself, "Well, I myself am a man without prejudices. I started in business, and I, too, married a widow, a merchant's widow."

What he heard was only a little episode in their conversation, which was also devoted to other affairs; but on the following day this subject of their yesterday's conversation was continued in this way:—

"You have told me the story of your love for Sólovtsof. But what was it? It was—"

"Let us sit down, if it is just the same to you; I am tired of walking."

"Very well. It was a childish feeling, such as gives no guarantee. You remember it only as a subject to laugh over, or, rather, to feel gloomy about; for it certainly has its