Grushenka. Three Times a Woman Page 8

  The business of renting out serf girls to whorehouses had become so prevalent that a few special laws existed about it. For example: what was to be done if one of the girls became syphilitic? She was not suitable at that time and she was of no use to her owner or to the whorehouse. Therefore the law provided that she was to be sent to Siberia, the cost to be divided by the owner and the Madame. Or what price was to be paid when a girl should run away? The girls were not sold, but rented out; quarterly installments had to be sent to the owner, ranging from five to thirty rubles, and after a year or two, the girl had to be returned. Madame Sophia was a thin, agile person with a never-ending flow of words. She talked so much that customers of her house quickly made their choice of the girl they wanted in order to get away from her. She was very elegant, treated her girls with candied words and most brutal beatings, and was very successful in her trade. Sophia's visit to the summer palace was of special concern to Katerina, for whom she brought many little gifts, from French candies to Viennese stays, and whom she did not leave for a minute during her stay. Katerina looked forward to these visits because Sophia told the gossip about the fine men of Moscow, men whom she watched during their intercourse with her girls, and knew more about than their own wives. During the eating hours, Sophia looked over the crop of serf girls at the palace. She did not make her choice quickly. She picked her prey with sharp eyes and watched for a few days before the bargaining began. Katerina was not easily persuaded to let a girl go, but in the end she always succumbed to Sophia's clever tongue. There were three girls Sophia wanted.

  Then, by accident, she met Grushenka. She had not seen her before because the bedfellows of the Prince had their own quarters and their own meals. Sophia made up her mind that, cost what it might, she was going to get Grushenka, even if she should have to go on her knees before the young Prince, who was taken up by hunting parties, riding, and cursing his farmer serfs. She broached the subject to Katerina and was astonished to find no resistance. Katerina knew very well that the Prince made no use of Grushenka and Grushenka was a sore spot on Katerina's mind. It was on her account that the old and rightful owner of the estate was now away from the holy ground of Russia and that this young ne'er-do-well, his nephew, was in charge. She therefore promised her help and took the matter up with Prince Leo, who after a moment's thought consented. When his uncle came back it might be an unpleasant reminder to find the substitute of his former wife still there. While he did not know whether it would be wise to sell Grushenka outright, to rent her to a whorehouse for a couple of years was a very good way out. Hence Grushenka was looked over by Sophia, who indulged in a stream of praise about her beauty and who secretly congratulated herself on her find. What a tidbit for her customers, to be told that they could have a girl who had played the part of the Princess Sokolow! Before Grushenka knew what it was all about she was sitting in the large carriage with three other girls, being driven drowsily over rough country roads heading apparently nowhere. After many night stops the four girls were put up in a public house, a station where express horses were changed, while Sophia went for a few days to a nearby estate to do more of her shopping. The girls were in the charge of the big coachman, a drunken and brazen fellow who was told to exercise his whip on them in case they should not behave. That they might try to run away did not occur to Sophia, who had told them a thousand alluring stories of the wonderful gowns they were to wear, of the many rich lovers they were going to have, of the food served on silver platters and so on.

  The other girls believed her and praised their luck that they could get away from the hard work in the household and be “Ladies” on their own. Not so Grushenka. She knew what was coming; she had heard enough stories of girls who had been mistreated in whorehouses, of sickness and abuse. The moral element of the matter did not enter her mind. To her it was perfectly right that her owner should use her body to gain money. But having had it easy in Sokolow's house, she nourished the idea of making a getaway. Of course she knew that if she were caught the hot branding iron would be the least of her punishments, yet she could not help thinking and planning. The girls stayed two or three days in the public house; sleeping in the mornings as long as they wanted, taking walks over the fields, sitting about in the one big guest room which the place offered for travelers.

  All kinds of people passed through the roadhouse. Farmers driving their cattle, officials in express coaches, tradesmen and monks. The girls looked at them with lazy eyes; they were not interested in getting acquainted with them or having affairs with them. One night, Sophia not yet having returned, a fine carriage drove into the yard. Two youngish, aristocratic men sat in the cushions. They did not leave the carriage, but admonished the coachman to change the horses quickly because they wanted to reach another roadhouse that night.

  Grushenka lingered around the yard, avoiding the heavy atmosphere of the crowded guest room. She walked slowly over to the carriage. Her face and figure, not clearly visible in the twilight and the light from the coach lanterns, intrigued one of the men, the smaller of the two. “Will the young lady,” he said to her, “charm two hurried travelers with a friendly good evening?” And he tipped his hat in a respectful manner. He was not sure who Grushenka might be. She had a fine dress on, one of Nelidowa's traveling dresses, which Katerina had given her because she had no use for Nelidowa's things any more, and she had a fine bearing and presence. But why should an aristocratic girl stay in such a second-rate roadhouse overnight? That was usually not done. Grushenka went leisurely to the coach, leaned over the low door and slowly looked the men over. The smaller fellow spoke again, this time more enthusiastically because of the girl's beauty.

  “If we can do anything for you, my Lady, let your word be a command.

  Be sure that my friend and I will do anything we can for such a lovely Lady as you are.” He gave his friend a slight poke in the side, indicating that he should help along the same line. But this young man was absorbed in his own thoughts. He had not paid much attention to the girl and seemed a bit annoyed that his companion was trying to sail into an adventure. He was dressed, like his friend, in a wide traveling cloak. His white neck cloth of fine silk shone in the flickering light of the yard. He had a most distinguished face, bold blue eyes, an aristocratic nose and a clean cut, full mouth, sensual but displaying the force of self restraint. He hardly glanced toward Grushenka; his eyes eagerly followed the doings of his coachman and of the stablemen. He looked like a conspirator who wants to reach the place of action on time. Grushenka liked him at first sight. In fact, she felt so attracted to him that she resented his passivity towards her. But the eagerness of his companion spun the conversation one step further. “I cannot imagine, Mademoiselle, that you would stay here overnight by your own wish, when twenty verst from here is the famous X- Inn, where all comfort is rendered to travelers. Has your carriage broken down, or is there any other reason why you cannot move on?” Grushenka rested her eyes fully on the speaker. If he would give her a lift she would be in Moscow before that fool of a coachman could have notified Madame Sophia, and before that time she was quite sure no attempt would be made to follow her. The little fellow, aware of her deliberations, continued his efforts. “We certainly would be delighted to take you along to Moscow, or even to Petersburg, where we are going, if you…” and he stopped. Grushenka decided her fate.

  She would do it! Run away! She leaned into the carriage and whispered, “You see that big oak tree down the road? I will wait there for you.

  If your carriage stops, I shall be glad to accept your invitation and you won't be sorry-” she added with a faint smile. After that she went to the appointed place with quick steps, without looking back. She was very excited. Would they pick her up, or not? The handsome man turned to his smaller companion and reminded him that they were in a hurry and not interested in girls at that moment. The other one retorted that there was never a time that one should not pay attention to the weaker sex, and when they came to the oak tree, the coachman stoppe
d. Grushenka slipped in. She was seated between the men on the broad back seat of the carriage. The little fellow very formally began the introductions. “My name is Fladilow Szerementon,” he said. “This is Mihail Stieven. We travel on a government commission of which we won't speak. We're bound for Petersburg, as I said before.”

  Grushenka nodded and was satisfied that this time Mihail took full notice of her, making a little bow and trying to distinguish her features in the soft moonlight. She answered, “I am also on a trip whose object I won't mention. I'm on my way to Moscow and am very grateful that you gentlemen can take me along. You will permit me not to give you my right name. Call me Mary, which is one of my names. I cannot expect that you take me to Moscow for nothing and I will do right by both of you, if you so desire. In fact I have to ask you to pay for my lodging at the Inn and it will be cheaper for you if I share a room with you. You will ask me why I am so outspoken in all this,” she added and turned to Mihail. “But I see your thoughts are far away and I will spare you the trouble of finding out all about me and of courting me. I am easy and willing.” She took a hand of each of her traveling companions and leaned full back in the seat giving both a warm pressure with the sides of her body. “You have very fine hands, anyway,” said Mihail, taken by surprise by this unusual little oration. “You certainly are not a girl used to work. We will not pry into your secrets and will see to your comfort- although I am annoyed with that little man on your other side, who can never let the women alone. Beware of him!” he added with a smile. “Then to our good friendship,” answered the girl. She turned lightly around to Fladilow and gave him a little kiss. This done, she turned to Mihail, put her hand behind his head and, as well as the swaggering coach would permit, she kissed him on the lips. During this kiss something happened which once in a while does take place. Grushenka fell violently in love with Mihail. It went through her body like an electric shock. She looked at him with glaring eyes, she could not help feeling his body, she caressed his face, she pressed herself towards him, she was so attracted by him that she traveled along the road in a trance. She felt light and happy as though suddenly cured after a great illness. She behaved like a young girl who has been, against her will, very virtuous for many months and is suddenly close to a man who electrifies her. She forced Mihail to put his arms around her, she leaned her head on his chest, she looked longingly at the moon. At the same time she did not forget the other companion whose good graces had put her in this position and who had to be taken into the bargain. Her free hand, therefore, was in his lap.

  Grushenka remembered this poetic drive through the moonlight her whole life. Her first adventure, something she had done of her own free will. The drowsy waggling of the coach, the giggling of her enamored mind, the stillness of the wide country; Mihail was pleased but still a bit suspicious as to where this adventure with a mysterious girl would lead. Fladilow was also satisfied, for even though a good poke might not be in store for him, he at least had fixed it up for his friend and superior and that would be a feather in his cap. The lights of the inn came into sight. They had arrived for their night's rest. Mihail took a big private room, ordered the deeply bowing innkeeper to serve a hearty meal, and Fladilow, seeing that Grushenka was taken up so much with his boss, asked the innkeeper whether he could not send another girl as a fourth guest to the repast. The innkeeper, with a twinkle in his eye, swore that he had a most beautiful girl at hand for the comfort of his guests and that he would send her right to them. The light of the flickering candles shone over the mixed company: the young and aristocratic men in shirt sleeves, hungry, dusty and behaving most informally, as two young fellows will do when they are not in the company of ladies; the wayside whore, rustic, healthy and plump, eager to get as much money out of her prey as possible; and Grushenka, in the stylish dress of a Lady, acting refined and using every opportunity to please Mihail towards whom she shot ardent glances. Both men were most attentive to her, treating the little whore scantily, and the latter could not make out what it was all about. She got really jealous of Grushenka, who seemed to take both men away from her and whom she could not classify.

  She tried her best to get the men for herself. Under ordinary circumstances Grushenka probably would have kept still and would have let things take their course, but in her happy mood of being out of her serfdom, at least for the moment, and being near to the man who seemed the dream lover of her past years, she developed a cheeriness which led to a silent battle between the two females. Meanwhile the men ate with hearty appetites and Fladilow encouraged Grushenka whenever he saw an opportunity. Not so Mihail, especially not after the dinner, when Grushenka sat down on his lap and started to smother him with kisses. She took possession of him and although he was enchanted by her charms, he felt that she became too “sticky,” too close to him. Before the real love-making between them started, he was already wondering how he could get rid of her with grace. Fladilow loitered around the room, kept the country vixen at her distance and took another room next to the one they were in, where he intended to have a quick party with the little whore in order to fall easily to sleep. They had a long trip ahead of them the next morning and it was getting late. But his eyes were longing for Grushenka and the little whore did not miss that. Feeling that she could not triumph mentally over her rival, she tried physically. Without a word she took her blouse off and slipped the ribbons of her shirt over her shoulders. Turning towards both men, she displayed two large, well made breasts with full red nipples. “Here,” she said, “that's the reason why men call me in and why no traveler passing this inn forgets to send for me. Let's see what that woman has to say to that.”

  “Well,” he said to Grushenka, who was most intimately ruffling his hair. “Well, my dear, what do you have to say?” Grushenka looked into his eyes. She rose from his lap. With quiet motions she took her clothes off. She crossed her hands behind her neck and stood before the men with dignity. All four were silent until the whore broke out in an angry speech. “Look at that hole of hers!” she cried.

  “I bet many hundreds of men-” But she could not finish the sentence, Fladilow rushed up to her and closed her mouth with a push of his hand. “Get out of here!” he shouted at her. He flung her blouse and other belongings after her and topped it with a silver ruble, which she caught skillfully while her scornful words bellowed through the hallway. What was in Mihail's mind was that by dividing the young girl between his friend and himself he was getting rid of all obligations and there would be no fear that she should have any claims on him. He went leisurely to bed, showing that he was in no hurry whatsoever. He laid himself next to her, put his arms around her and seemed to express with his movements that all was right now, and let's have it. He expected that she would kiss and fondle him. She hardly stirred. Of course she rested close to him, touching bodies, but nothing more than that. He turned towards her. He mounted her and worked away on her. She pressed him in her arms, close, so close. She encircled him with her legs, raised her thighs so high that her heels pressed tightly on his bottom. But she did not respond to his love-making. She lay as if in a trance, unable to move, overcome in a passive rapture, but he did not realize this. She did not give him any pleasure and he was disappointed. What a silly girl! First to act like a lovelorn cat and then, when it came to the point, a creature without any feelings. When Mihail was through, he told her to take care of his friend. She got up like a sleepwalker and disappeared into Fladilow's room. Fladilow was eager to explain to her that since she loved his friend, he was too much of a gentleman to touch her unless she wanted it, but she realized that he was still hungry for her. She wanted to talk with Fladilow about his friend. She wanted to know everything about him. She was ordered to relieve the young fellow of his passion, and she proceeded to do so. She remembered how she had done this with the Prince and she did her job in the same fashion.

  “What a creature! What a wonderful creature,” thought Fladilow before he fell asleep. Mihail was already asleep when Grushenka r
eturned. She hardly dared to go back into the bed alongside of him.

  But he did not wake up, he did not stir. Sleep was far away from Grushenka's eyes. She lay awake, staring through the darkness of the room at the man next to her, at her beloved, the one and only. She did not cry because fate would take him away from her the next day, she just prayed for him and she was happy until the early morning hours closed her eyes for a short rest. It was a grey morning of drizzling rain and they were three tired and moody travelers. They spoke very little. The horses made haste to reach the next stable while the coachman uttered faint curses and did not bother to wipe the raindrops from his wet face. They ate hurried meals by the wayside and the spirit of adventure and sentiment of the previous night was forgotten. When Grushenka left them for a moment in an inn, Fladilow wanted to collect the laurels for the night before. Winking with his eye after the disappearing girl, he commented on her unusual love-making qualities. He was surprised at the answer he got and could no more understand his friend than the other could get the meaning of his words. “Lousy!” remarked Mihail. “Just lousy! Take a piece of timber and screw a hole in it and you'd get a better reaction. Isn't it so?” This puzzled them both. Especially when Fladilow swore that since that Swedish girl in Stockholm, of whom he had spoken so often before, he had not had such a wonderful time, except with Grushenka.

  To which Mihail answered, “Pooh!” and the matter was dropped.

  They reached the towers of Moscow after dark, passing the gates without molestation after Mihail had presented his pass. The clattering and rumbling coach entered the ill-lit streets of the poor quarters. Grushenka begged to be permitted to take leave. The men wondered what business she had in this city, but they stopped the carriage assuring her that if they could do anything for her at any time they were at her service. When Grushenka departed, Mihail kissed her on both cheeks and felt a sudden attachment to this mysterious beauty. Before they finally parted she felt Mihail press something into her hand. “Password to the gates of heaven and hell!” he cried merrily, and the coach drove on at a quick pace.