‘You didn’t know whether you were even going to like the man, let alone whether you’d be able to love him; you got married to the first man who came along and spent all the rest of your life in misery. Do you think that was better?’ she said, making it clear that her words were addressed primarily to the lawyer and myself, and only in the last instance to the old man with whom she was talking.

‘They’ve all gotten that well educated,’ repeated the old merchant, surveying the lady contemptuously and letting her question go unanswered.

‘I’d like to hear you explain the connection you see between education and marital discord,’ the lawyer said, with a faint smile.

The merchant was about to say something, but the lady cut in before him.

‘No, those days have gone,’ she said. But the lawyer would not allow her to continue.

‘Just a moment, let him say what’s on his mind.’

‘Education leads to nothing but a lot of silliness,’ said the old man, firmly.

‘People who don’t love one another are forced to get married, and then everyone wonders why they can’t live in harmony together,’ said the lady hurriedly, turning an appraising eye on the lawyer, myself and even on the salesclerk, who had risen out of his seat and was leaning his elbows on its back, listening to the conversation with a smile. ‘After all, if’s only animals that can be mated at their masters’ will; human beings have inclinations and attachments of their own,’ she went on, apparently from a desire to say something wounding to the merchant.

‘You’re wrong there, missus,’ said the old man. The true difference is that an animal’s just an animal, but human beings have been given a law to live by.’

‘Very well, but how are you supposed to live with someone you don’t love?’ asked the lady, still in a hurry to express her opinions, which doubtless seemed brand-new to her.

‘People didn’t make such a fuss about all that in the old days,’ said the merchant in a serious voice. ‘That’s all just come in lately. First thing you hear her say nowadays is “I’m leaving you.” It’s a fashion that’s caught on even among the muzhiks. “Here you are,” she says; “here’s your shirts and trousers, I’m off with Vanka, his hair’s curlier than yours.” And it’s no good arguing with her. Whereas what ought to come first for a woman is fear.’

The salesclerk looked first at the lawyer, then at the lady, and finally at me; he was only just keeping back a smile, and was preparing to treat what the merchant had said with either ridicule or approval, according to how it went down.

‘What sort of fear?’ asked the lady.

‘Fear of her hu-u-usband, of course. That kind of fear.’

‘Well, my dear man, those days have gone, I’m afraid,’ said the lady, with an edge of malice in her voice.

‘No, missus, those days can never be gone. Eve, the woman, was created from the rib of man, and so she will remain until the end of time,’ said the old man, with such a stern and triumphant shake of his head that the salesclerk at once decided that victory was on the side of the merchant, and he burst into loud laughter.

‘That’s only the way you menfolk see it,’ said the lady, not ceding defeat, and giving us all an appraising look. ‘You’ve granted yourselves freedom, but you want to keep women locked up in a tower. Meanwhile you’ve decided you’re going to allow yourselves anything you want.’

‘No one’s decided anything of the kind. It’s just that a home profits nothing from a man’s endeavours, and a woman is a fragile vessel,’ the merchant continued earnestly.

The merchant’s solemn, earnest tone of voice was evidently having a persuasive effect on his audience. Even the lady appeared to have had some of the wind taken out of her sails, though she showed no sign of giving up the struggle.

‘Yes, well, but I think you would agree that a woman is a human being, and that she has feelings just as a man has, wouldn’t you? So what’s she supposed to do if she doesn’t love her husband?’

‘If she doesn’t love him?’ echoed the merchant darkly, making a grimace with his lips and eyebrows. ‘She’d better love him.’

The salesclerk seemed to find this line of argument particularly attractive, and he made a noise of approval.

‘Oh, no she hadn’t,’ said the lady. ‘If there’s no love there in the first place, you can’t force it.’

‘And what if the wife’s unfaithful to the husband?’ asked the lawyer.

‘That mustn’t happen,’ said the old man. ‘You have to be on the look-out for that kind of thing.’

‘But what if it does happen? It does, after all.’

‘There’s some as it happens to, but not the likes of us,’ said the old man.

No one ventured anything for a while. The salesclerk shifted a little closer. Apparently not wishing to be left out of things, he gave a smile and said: ‘Oh, but it does, you know. There was a scandal with one of our lads. It wasn’t easy to tell whose fault it was, either. Married a loose woman, he did. She started her flirting around, but he was the homely type, and he had a bit of education. First jump she had was with one of the clerks in the office. The lad tried to make her see reason, but there was no stopping her. All kinds of filthy tricks she got up to. Started stealing his money. So he beat her. Didn’t do any good, she just went from bad to worse.