Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky [best books to read for women TXT] 📗

departure, she had written to refuse

personal explanations and secret interviews,

for which he was entreating her. In that

letter she reproached him with great heat

and indignation for the baseness of his

behaviour in regard to Marfa Petrovna,

reminding him that he was the father and

head of a family and telling him how

infamous it was of him to torment and

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make unhappy a defenceless girl, unhappy

enough already. Indeed, dear Rodya, the

letter was so nobly and touchingly written

that I sobbed when I read it and to this day

I cannot read it without tears. Moreover,

the evidence of the servants, too, cleared

Dounia’s reputation; they had seen and

known a great deal more than Mr.

Svidrigaïlov had himself supposed —as

indeed is always the case with servants.

Marfa Petrovna was completely taken

aback, and ‘again crushed’ as she said

herself to us, but she was completely

convinced of Dounia’s innocence. The

very next day, being Sunday, she went

straight to the Cathedral, knelt down and

prayed with tears to Our Lady to give her

strength to bear this new trial and to do her

duty. Then she came straight from the

Cathedral to us, told us the whole story,

wept bitterly and, fully penitent, she

embraced Dounia and besought her to

forgive her. The same morning without

any delay, she went round to all the houses

in the town and everywhere, shedding

tears, she asserted in the most flattering

terms Dounia’s innocence and the nobility

of her feelings and her behavior. What was

more, she showed and read to everyone the

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letter in Dounia’s own handwriting to Mr.

Svidrigaïlov and even allowed them to take

copies of it—which I must say I think was

superfluous. In this way she was busy for

several days in driving about the whole

town, because some people had taken

offence through precedence having been

given to others. And therefore they had to

take turns, so that in every house she was

expected before she arrived, and everyone

knew that on such and such a day Marfa

Petrovna would be reading the letter in

such and such a place and people assembled

for every reading of it, even many who had

heard it several times already both in their

own houses and in other people’s. In my

opinion a great deal, a very great deal of all this was unnecessary; but that’s Marfa

Petrovna’s character. Anyway she

succeeded in completely re-establishing

Dounia’s reputation and the whole

ignominy of this affair rested as an indelible disgrace upon her husband, as the only

person to blame, so that I really began to

feel sorry for him; it was really treating the crazy fellow too harshly. Dounia was at

once asked to give lessons in several

families, but she refused. All of a sudden

everyone began to treat her with marked

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respect and all this did much to bring about

the event by which, one may say, our

whole fortunes are now transformed. You

must know, dear Rodya, that Dounia has a

suitor and that she has already consented to

marry him. I hasten to tell you all about the

matter, and though it has been arranged

without asking your consent, I think you

will not be aggrieved with me or with your

sister on that account, for you will see that

we could not wait and put off our decision

till we heard from you. And you could not

have judged all the facts without being on

the spot. This was how it happened. He is

already of the rank of a counsellor, Pyotr

Petrovitch Luzhin, and is distantly related

to Marfa Petrovna, who has been very

active in bringing the match about. It

began with his expressing through her his

desire to make our acquaintance. He was

properly received, drank coffee with us and

the very next day he sent us a letter in

which he very courteously made an offer

and begged for a speedy and decided

answer. He is a very busy man and is in a

great hurry to get to Petersburg, so that

every moment is precious to him. At first,

of course, we were greatly surprised, as it

had all happened so quickly and

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unexpectedly. We thought and talked it

over the whole day. He is a well-to-do

man, to be depended upon, he has two

posts in the government and has already

made his fortune. It is true that he is forty-

five years old, but he is of a fairly

prepossessing appearance and might still be

thought attractive by women, and he is

altogether a very respectable and

presentable man, only he seems a little

morose and somewhat conceited. But

possibly that may only be the impression he

makes at first sight. And beware, dear

Rodya, when he comes to Petersburg, as

he shortly will do, beware of judging him

too hastily and severely, as your way is, if

there is anything you do not like in him at

first sight. I give you this warning, although I feel sure that he will make a favourable

impression upon you. Moreover, in order

to understand any man one must be

deliberate and careful to avoid forming

prejudices and mistaken ideas, which are

very difficult to correct and get over

afterwards. And Pyotr Petrovitch, judging

by many indications, is a thoroughly

estimable man. At his first visit, indeed, he

told us that he was a practical man, but still he shares, as he expressed it, many of the

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convictions ‘of our most rising generation’

and he is an opponent of all prejudices. He

said a good deal more, for he seems a little

conceited and likes to be listened to, but

this is scarcely a vice. I, of course,

understood very little of it, but Dounia

explained to me that, though he is not a

man of great education, he is clever and

seems to be good-natured. You know your

sister’s character, Rodya. She is a resolute,

sensible, patient and generous girl, but she

has a passionate heart, as I know very well.

Of course, there is no great love either on

his side, or on hers, but Dounia is a clever

girl and has the heart of an angel, and will

make it her duty to make her husband

happy who on his side will make her

happiness his care. Of that we have no

good reason to doubt, though it must be

admitted the matter has been arranged in

great haste. Besides he is a man of great

prudence and he will see, to be sure, of

himself, that his own happiness will be the

more secure, the happier Dounia is with

him. And as for some defects of character,

for some habits and even certain differences

of opinion —which indeed are inevitable

even in the happiest marriages— Dounia

has said that, as regards all that, she relies on 70 of 967

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herself, that there is nothing to be uneasy

about, and that she is ready to put up with

a great deal, if only their future relationship can be an honourable and straightforward

one. He struck me, for instance, at first, as

rather abrupt, but that may well come from

his being an outspoken man, and that is no

doubt how it is. For instance, at his second

visit, after he had received Dounia’s

consent, in the course of conversation, he

declared that before making Dounia’s

acquaintance, he had made up his mind to

marry a girl of good reputation, without

dowry and, above all, one who had

experienced poverty, because, as he

explained, a man ought not to be indebted

to his wife, but that it is better for a wife to look upon her husband as her benefactor. I

must add that he expressed it more nicely

and politely than I have done, for I have

forgotten his actual phrases and only

remember the meaning. And, besides, it

was obviously not said of design, but

slipped out in the heat of conversation, so

that he tried afterwards to correct himself

and smooth it over, but all the same it did

strike me as somewhat rude, and I said so

afterwards to Dounia. But Dounia was

vexed, and answered that ‘words are not

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deeds,’ and that, of course, is perfectly true.

Dounia did not sleep all night before she

made up her mind, and, thinking that I was

asleep, she got out of bed and was walking

up and down the room all night; at last she

knelt down before the ikon and prayed

long and fervently and in the morning she

told me that she had decided.

‘I have mentioned already that Pyotr

Petrovitch is just setting off for Petersburg, where he has a great deal of business, and

he wants to open a legal bureau. He has

been occupied for many years in

conducting civil and commercial litigation,

and only the other day he won an

important case. He has to be in Petersburg

because he has an important case before the

Senate. So, Rodya dear, he may be of the

greatest use to you, in every way indeed,

and Dounia and I have agreed that from

this very day you could definitely enter

upon your career and might consider that

your future is marked out and assured for

you. Oh, if only this comes to pass! This

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would be such a benefit that we could only

look upon it as a providential blessing.

Dounia is dreaming of nothing else. We

have even ventured already to drop a few

words on the subject to Pyotr Petrovitch.

He was cautious in his answer, and said

that, of course, as he could not get on

without a secretary, it would be better to

be paying a salary to a relation than to a

stranger, if only the former were fitted for

the duties (as though there could be doubt

of your being fitted!) but then he expressed

doubts whether your studies at the

university would leave you time for work

at his office. The matter dropped for the

time, but Dounia is thinking of nothing

else now. She has been in a sort of fever for

the last few days, and has already made a

regular plan for your becoming in the end

an associate and even a partner in Pyotr

Petrovitch’s business, which might well be,

seeing that you are a student of law. I am in

complete agreement with her, Rodya, and

share all her plans and hopes, and think

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there is every probability of realising them.

And in spite of Pyotr Petrovitch’s

evasiveness, very natural at present (since

he does not know you), Dounia is firmly

persuaded that she will gain everything by

her good influence over her future

husband; this she is reckoning upon. Of

course we are careful not to talk of any of

these more remote plans to Pyotr

Petrovitch, especially of your becoming his

partner. He is a practical man and might

take this very coldly, it might all seem to

him simply a day-dream. Nor has either

Dounia or I breathed a word to him of the

great hopes we have of his helping us to

pay for your university studies; we have not

spoken of it in the first place, because it

will come to pass of itself, later on, and he

will no doubt without wasting words offer

to do it of himself, (as though he could

refuse Dounia that) the more readily since

you may by your own efforts become his

right hand in the office, and receive this

assistance not as a charity, but as a salary

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earned by your own work. Dounia wants

to arrange it all like this and I quite agree

with her. And we have not spoken of our

plans for another reason, that is, because I

particularly wanted you to feel on an equal

footing when you first meet him. When

Dounia spoke to him with enthusiasm

about you, he answered that one could

never judge of a man without seeing him

close, for oneself, and that he looked

forward to forming his own opinion when

he makes your acquaintance. Do you

know, my precious Rodya, I think that

perhaps for some reasons (nothing to do

with Pyotr Petrovitch though, simply for

my own personal, perhaps old- womanish,

fancies) I should do better to go on living

by myself, apart, than with them, after the

wedding. I am convinced that he will be

generous and delicate enough to invite me

and to urge me to remain with my

daughter for the future, and if he has said

nothing about it hitherto, it is simply

because it has been taken for granted; but I

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shall refuse. I have noticed more than once

in my life that husbands don’t quite get on

with their mothers-in- law, and I don’t

want to be the least bit in anyone’s way,

and for my own sake, too, would rather be

quite independent, so long as I have a crust

of bread of my own, and such children as

you and Dounia. If possible, I would settle

somewhere near you, for the most joyful

piece of news, dear Rodya, I have kept for

the end of