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70 me. And now—well, we'll speak about this afterwards. Now first of all, there is one question that I cannot answer; please answer it for me. Will your marriage take place soon?"

"Never!"

"I thought so, for the last three hours,—ever since I left the card-table to come in here. But why is he considered to be your bridegroom?"

"Why is he considered to be my bridegroom? why, indeed? There's one reason I cannot tell you; it is too hard for me: but there's another I can. I pity him; he loves me so! You will say, 'I must tell him frankly what I think about our marriage'; I did tell him, but he replied, 'Don't speak; it kills me; be silent.

"That is the second reason; but the first one which you find hard to tell me, I can tell you; it's because your position in your family is terrible."

"At the present time it is tolerable. Now no one torments me; they are waiting for me to decide and they leave me almost entirely alone."

"But this may not last very long; they will begin to bring pressure upon you; what then?"

"Nothing. I have thought about it and made up my mind what to do; I shall not stay here any longer; I can be an actress. What an enviable life it is! Liberty! Liberty!"

"And applause."

"Yes; that's also pleasant, but the main thing is liberty; to do what I please; to live as I please, not asking anybody for anything, not be dependent on anybody; that's the way I want to live!"

"That is true, that is good! Now I want to ask you something: I will find out how this can be done, to whom application must be made—shall I?"

"Thank you." Viérotchka pressed his hand. "Do it very soon; I want to tear myself away as quick as I can from this miserable, intolerable, and degrading situation. I say, 'I am calm, I can bear it,' but is it so in reality? don't I see what is done with my good name? don't I know what all those who are here think of me? They say, 'She's a schemer, she's cunning, she wants to be rich, she wants to get into fine society, to shine; she will keep her husband under the shoe, twist him around her little finger, deceive him.' Don't I know that they think this about me? I don't want to live