Julie. "We must go somewhere else; but where? Wait. I'll be right back from this shop."
She bought a thick veil for Viérotchka. "Put it on; then you can go with me without any fear. But don't lift your veil until we are alone! Pauline is very modest, but I don't want that even she should see you. I am too careful of you, my child!"
In fact she herself wore her maid's cloak and bonnet and a thick veil. When Julie got warm, she listened to all the news that Viérotchka had to tell her; then she told her in turn about her interview with Storeshnikof.
"Now, my dear child, there is no doubt that he will make you an offer. These young men are always getting over ears in love when their flirting meets no response. Do you know, my dear child, that you have treated him quite like an experienced coquette. Coquetry—I am speaking about genuine coquetry, not about foolish, stupid imitations of it, for they are disgusting, like any other imitation of a good thing—coquetry, I say, means sense and tact in the way that a woman treats a man. Therefore absolutely innocent girls act without meaning it, exactly like experienced coquettes, if only they have sense and tact. Maybe my motives will partly influence him, but the main thing is your resistance. However, he will make you an offer, and I advise you to accept it."
"You who told me only yesterday that it was better to die than give a kiss without love?"
"My dear child, that was said in excitement: in moments of excitement it is true and good. But life is prose and calculation."
"No! never! never! He is contemptible! this is abominable! I shall not lower myself; let him devour me; I'd sooner jump out of the window—sooner go out and beg for bread—but to give my hand to a contemptible, low man—no! it is better to die!"
Julie began to explain the advantages: "You will get rid of your mother's persecutions; you stand in danger of being sold; he is not bad, but only a little off; a narrow man who is not bad is better than any other husband for a woman of strong character; you would be mistress of the house."
She depicted the position of actresses, dancers, who do not love their "husbands" but reign over them: "This is the freest situation in the world for a woman, except that situa-
