Page:Chernyshevsky.whatistobedone.djvu/387

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A VITAL QUESTION.
367

very weak in comparison to when the root of the relations which are connected with the enjoyment finds its soil in the very depth of the moral life."

"I am very glad that I gave up before it was too late, that unprofitable way of living. It is true; it is important for the circulation of the blood not to be checked by any hindrances. But why after all should we care if the complexion of the skin does become more tender? It must be so. And how delighted we are at trifles! Trifles, but how you feel them in your feet! The stocking must be put on smooth, and should not be too light; the seam gets in the proper place, and the hurt vanishes.

"It does not pass so quick! I wore corsets only three years; I gave them up before we were married. But it is a fact they still confine the waist too much even without corsets. Isn't it likely that this deformity will also pass like the pain in the foot? It is likely: even now it is going out of fashion somewhat; it will pass. How glad I am! What a horrible cut of dresses. It is full time that the Russian women had better sense. The dress ought to be wide from the very shoulders, just as the Greeks used to be dressed! How the cut of our dresses ruins our figures! But this line is beginning to be normal in me, and how glad I am!"


"How lovely you are, Viérotchka!"

"How happy I am, Sasha!"

And sweet discourses.
Like rivers of bliss
Spreading and flowing;
His smile and his kiss![1]


XV.

VIÉRA PAVLOVNA'S FOURTH DREAM.

And Viéra Pavlovna dreams a dream as though:—

A voice familiar to her—oh, how familiar to her!—from afar, then nearer, nearer.

Wie herrlich leuchtet
Mir die Natur
Wie glänzet die Sonne
Wie lacht die Flur.

  1. Literally: And sweet talk  Like streams of words  His smile  and kiss.