14 In Russian the word for ‘forgive me’ is very similar to that for ‘good-bye’, and is sometimes used in place of the latter.
APPENDIX
The following are the readings of the lithograph:
1 Add: with remarkable glittering eyes of an indefinite colour, which attracted attention. Some of the description that follows is omitted.
2 Read: At first the clerk said that the place opposite was engaged; to which the old man replied that he was only going as far as the next station.
3 Read: considering probably that this did not at all infringe the dignity his figure and manner denoted, …
4 For the above paragraph read: ‘And then come discord, financial troubles, mutual recrimination, and the married couple separate,’ said the lawyer.
5 In place of the two preceding lines, read: said the lady, evidently encouraged by the general attention and approval.
6 The old man here replies: ‘Men are a different matter.’ And the lady says: ‘Then to a man, in your opinion, everything is permitted.’
7 Add: ‘Or if some stupid man cannot control his wife – it serves him right. But all the same one must not create a scandal about it. Love or don’t love, but don’t break up the home. Every husband can keep his wife in order, he has the right to do it. Only a fool can’t manage it.’
8 In place of this paragraph read: ‘But you yourself may go on the spree with the girls at Kunávin,’ said the lawyer with a smile.
9 Add: a vein on his forehead stood out,
10 The lithograph here reads differently, and the words that follow are: ‘How do you mean “what kind of love”?’ said the lady. ‘The ordinary love of married couples.’
‘But how can ordinary love sanctify marriage?’ continued the nervous gentleman. He was as agitated as though he were angry and wished to speak unpleasantly to the lady. She felt this and was also agitated.
‘How? Very simply,’ said she. The nervous gentleman at once seized on the word.
‘No, not simply!’
11 Add: and least of all for his wife. That is what the proverb says, and it is a true one. “Another’s wife is a swan, but one’s own is bitter wormwood.”
12 Read: Even if one admits that Menelaus might prefer Helen for his whole lifetime, Helen would prefer Paris.
13 Add: … of Helen with Menelaus or vice versa. The only difference is that with one it comes sooner and with another later. It is only written in stupid novels that they loved one another all their lives, and only children can believe that.
14 Add: ‘This identity of ideals does not occur among old people, but always between handsome and young ones. And I assert that love, real love, does not sanctify marriage as we are accustomed to suppose for one’s whole life, but on the contrary destroys it.’
15 Add: And we feel this, and to avoid it we preach “love”. In reality the preaching of free love is only a call to return to the mingling of the sexes – excuse me,’ said he, turning to the lady, ‘to fornication. The old basis has worn out, and we must find a new one, but not preach depravity!’ He had become so excited that we all remained silent and looked at him.
‘And at present the transition stage is terrible. People feel that it will not do to allow adultery, and that sexual relations must in some way be defined; but bases for this are lacking, except the old ones in which no one any longer believes. And people go on getting married in the old way without believing in what they are doing, and the result is either deception or coercion.
16 Add: and do not themselves know why or what for,
17 Add: In the course of his story he did not once stop after that, and not even the entry of fresh passengers interrupted him. During his narration his face completely changed several times so that nothing resembling the former face remained: his eyes, his mouth, his moustache and even his beard were all different – it was a beautiful, touching, new face. These changes occurred suddenly in the dim light, and for some five minutes there was one face and it was impossible to see the former face, and then, one did not know how, another face appeared and again it was impossible to see it otherwise.
18 Add: … my life and all my terrible story. Terrible, really terrible. The whole story is more terrible than the end.
19 Add: In the first place let me tell you who I am. I am the son of a rich landowner in the steppes, and I took a degree in law at the university. I married when I was rather over thirty, but before telling of my marriage I must say how I lived previously and how I regarded family life.
