The lawyer’s grey eyes tried not to laugh, but they leaped with irrepressible joy, and Alexei Alexandrovich could see that it was not only the joy of a man who was receiving a profitable commission- here there was triumph and delight, there was a gleam that resembled the sinister gleam he had seen in his wife’s eyes.
‘You desire my assistance in carrying through the divorce?’
‘Yes, precisely,’ said Alexei Alexandrovich, ‘but I must warn you that I risk abusing your attention. I have come only to ask your advice in a preliminary way. I desire the divorce, but I give importance to the forms in which it is possible. It is very likely that, if the forms do not fit my requirements, I will renounce a formal suit.’
‘Oh, that is always so,’ said the lawyer, ‘and it is always in your power.’
The lawyer dropped his eyes to Alexei Alexandrovich’s feet, sensing that his look of irrepressible joy might offend his client. He saw a moth flying just in front of his nose and his hand jumped, but he did not catch it, out of respect for Alexei Alexandrovich’s position.
‘Although our statutes on this subject are known to me in general terms,’ Alexei Alexandrovich continued, ‘I would like to know the forms in which cases of this sort are most often carried through in practice.’
‘You wish,’ replied the lawyer, not raising his eyes, and adopting, not without pleasure, the tone of his client’s speech, ‘that I lay out for you the ways in which the fulfilment of your desire is possible.’
And, at an affirming nod of Alexei Alexandrovich’s head, he continued, only giving a fleeting glance now and then at Alexei Alexandrovich’s face, which was covered with red blotches.
‘Divorce, according to our laws,’ he said with a slight tinge of disapproval of our laws, ‘is possible, as you know, in the following cases ... Let them wait!’ he said to the assistant who had thrust himself in the door, but nevertheless got up, said a few words and sat down again. ‘In the following cases: physical defects in the spouses, or a five-year absence without communication,’ he said, bending down his stubby, hair-covered fingers, ‘or adultery’ (he pronounced this word with visible pleasure). ‘The subdivisions are the following’ (he continued to bend down his fat fingers, though cases and subdivisions obviously could not be classified together): ‘physical defects in husband or wife, and adultery of the husband or wife.’ As he had run out of fingers, he unbent them all and went on. ‘This is the theoretical view, but I suppose that you have done me the honour of appealing to me in order to find out about the practical application. And therefore, going by precedent, I must inform you that all cases of divorce come down to the following - there are no physical defects, I may take it? and no five-year absence either? ...’
Alexei Alexandrovich inclined his head affirmatively.
‘... come down to the following: adultery by one of the spouses and exposure of the guilty party by mutual agreement, or, lacking such agreement, by involuntary exposure. I must say that the latter case rarely occurs in practice,’ the lawyer said and, glancing fleetingly at Alexei Alexandrovich, fell silent, like a seller of pistols who, having described the advantages of each of two weapons, waits for his purchaser’s choice. But Alexei Alexandrovich was silent, and therefore the lawyer went on: ‘The most usual, simple and sensible thing, I consider, is adultery by mutual consent. I would not have allowed myself to put it that way if I were talking with an undeveloped man,’ said the lawyer, ‘but I suppose we understand each other.’
Alexei Alexandrovich was so upset, however, that he did not understand at once the sensibleness of adultery by mutual consent, and his eyes expressed bewilderment; but the lawyer immediately came to his assistance:
‘People cannot go on living together - there is a fact. And if they both agree in that, the details and formalities become a matter of indifference. And at the same time this is the simplest and surest method.’
Now Alexei Alexandrovich fully understood. But he had religious requirements that prevented him from accepting this measure.
‘That is out of the question in the present case,’ he said. ‘Only one case is possible: involuntary exposure, confirmed by letters which I have in my possession.’
At the mention of letters, the lawyer pursed his lips and produced a high-pitched sound of pity and contempt.
‘Kindly consider,’ he began. ‘Cases of this sort are decided, as you know, by the religious department; the reverend fathers are great lovers of the minutest details,’ he said with a smile that showed his sympathy with the reverend fathers’ taste. ‘Letters undoubtedly could give partial confirmation; but the evidence must be obtained directly - that is, by witnesses. And, in general, if you do me the honour of granting me your trust, you should leave to me the choice of measures to be employed. He who wants results must allow for the means.’
