Grushenka. Three Times a Woman

Anonymous

CHAPTER ONE

Katerina walked in great dismay through one of the unpaved streets in the northerly quarter of Moscow. She had good reason to be uneasy and in bad humor. Here it was spring; soon the whole household would be moved to the country and she had not yet been able to fulfill the command of her mistress, the young and capricious Princess Nelidowa Sokolow. At first the Princess Nelidowa had only mentioned her request casually, as something she would like to have. But lately she had demanded, nay commanded. The young Princess had become very irritable. She was always on the go, never at rest, not even for a reassuring prayer. It was not for Katerina to question the orders of her mistress. She was the housekeeper, an old and trusted serf, hardened by rough work, now burdened with the weight of running the huge household, to which the young and pleasure-seeking Madame never gave a thought. She had been trained since her early youth to follow orders and to do so promptly. Katerina was not in dismay because she was afraid she would be punished. She was not in fear of the lash. No, it was not that. She simply wanted to do her duty, and her duty was to satisfy her Lady. What Princess Nelidowa wanted was this: a serf girl, who had exactly her own measurements, who duplicated exactly her own figure. It may seem strange that Nelidowa should have had such a desire, but it was not.

It must be imagined through what nerve-wracking torture (so she thought at least) Nelidowa had to go, standing as a model for hours and hours in her boudoir, while the tailor, the chemise-maker, the bodice-maker, the shoe-maker, the coiffeur and all the other untold clothiers tinkered around her body. Of course, it is every woman's delight to adorn herself, to choose and to invent what is most becoming to her. But Nelidowa was suddenly in a hurry. In a hurry to live, to enjoy herself, to play the lady, to be everywhere, to be seen, and last but not least, to be adored. To be adored and envied by women meant clothes and more clothes. And that meant to have to stand still and suffer, to be touched all over by the dirty hands of the dress-makers. The Princess despised the dress-makers as she did all other working people and treated them haughtily and unjustly. She disliked the smell of them, but she had to bear it in order to look lovely and rich. Rich! That was the word which sang always in the ears of the newly wed Princess. Rich, mighty, a figure at the court, a mistress of many souls. Of course there was a price to be paid for it, a price with disgusting features. This price was that she had to be the wife of Alexey Sokolow. She hated it, but what could she do? It was a bargain she could not confide to her most intimate friends. She was always conscious of why she had to endure it, but had not yet thought how she might get around it. For Nelidowa had been terribly poor. So poor that in the convent, where she had been brought up, she had not been given enough to eat. The nuns had used her as a kitchen maid and on the great holidays, when all the other aristocratic girls donated candles to the Saints as big as logs, she could not even buy a little waxen stick. Her father had been a great general, a superb aristocrat, her mother a Tartar Princess. But when her father, in one of his usual drinking spells, had fallen into the Volga and drowned, his family was left without a kopeck. Ill-meaning relatives scattered his brood, as they called it, into institutions and charity houses. Grown to be twenty, and without any desire to become a nun, an old and half blind aunt in a little city had taken Nelidowa in. There she was chained to a cranky invalid who gave her the switch once in a while, which was then the mode even for educated girls, as long as they were not married. Therefore, it was like a miracle when the match with the mighty Alexey Sokolow was suddenly in the air. It was a fata morgana, not to be trusted, and when it finally became true, Nelidowa had to pinch herself many times to make sure she was not dreaming. This match had been made, after the fashion of the times, by correspondence. Now, in the little city where Nelidowa then lived, was a fickle young man, son of the Military Commander of the district. He fell so violently in love with Nelidowa that he told his father-and told him with passion-that he was going to marry the girl of his love, although she was poor and socially a nobody. The father, as it goes in the world, did not want to consent. The best thing therefore, so it seemed to him, would be to remove the girl from the sight of his son, and the best way to remove her was to marry her off. Being a school chum of the mighty Prince Alexey Sokolow, and having corresponded with him for many years, he now sent him such showers of praise about the virtue and charm of Nelidowa, that he succeeded in getting the old bachelor engaged to the girl by mail.

There was no doubt that Nelidowa would grasp this opportunity with all ten of her nimble fingers. Ex-Governor Prince Alexey Sokolow was known throughout the country as one of the richest landowners, a figure at court, a political factor and as a host who gave elegant parties. One of the grandees of his time, he had inherited his fortunes and tripled them by bold strokes which often bordered on robbery. That he was thirty-five years her senior did not disturb Nelidowa. It all meant the one great windfall of luck for her. But that he consented to marry her made her wonder very much. It cannot be said whether Sokolow would have been able to get one of the rich ladies of the court as a wife, but it is certain that he had his own special reasons for making the abrupt decision to marry the unknown girl. These reasons were not that she was an aristocratic girl and the daughter of an old friend of his. No, the real reason was that Sokolow wanted to do some spite work to his relatives. They were already counting on his death, had already figured out what they would inherit from him, would in fact have liked to poison him. Now let them wail! He would marry this girl who was young and healthy, marry her and have children and the whole chorus of loving relatives would have to go away empty handed. When this clever idea entered his head, he acted with his usual abruptness. Nobody should know beforehand. He simply wrote a letter to Nelidowa, without any explanations or previous correspondence, to the effect that he had heard from his old friend that she was a marriageable person, that enclosed were 5,000 rubles for her dowry, that the ring he was sending her had been worn by his mother, that the carriage sent to her door was hers, and that he expected her without delay. But he advised her to travel by easy stages, so that she should not be tired at the wedding ceremonies, which would take place as soon as she arrived in Moscow. There was the handsome carriage with a huge coachman and two footmen at her door, there was the 5,000 rubles-Nelidowa had never in her life seen so much money-there was the ring with a ruby, thick as a pigeon's egg, there was the confirmation of the Military Commander that all this was his work. Well, Nelidowa jumped into the carriage and did not travel in easy stages but in such haste that the coachman often had to change the poor horses. Nelidowa didn't get tired at all. She was so excited that she did not feel the lack of sleep or food. She was in a trance.

She did not even lose this state of excitement when she saw the bridegroom. No poet could have made him into a desirable lover. He was in his middle fifties, short, brutal and bald, with a large belly which protruded from underneath his hairy chest. Only when Nelidowa found herself with him in bed, did she realize the disgusting reality-but that must be told later on. This was the reason why the young Princess plunged herself with vigor into all and every kind of amusement and social debauchery. She had to make up for the past and she had to make the most of her bargain. Therefore, during the second season of her life in Moscow, she left no stone unturned if it meant any pleasure for herself. She treated her servants with reckless brutality, she became nervous, irritable and restless and was ceaselessly thinking of means to make everything as easy for herself as possible. She had decided that she did not want to try on her own clothes, but that a substitute should be found. That is how Katerina got her order to find and buy the duplicate of Madame. Katerina had tried to fill this order for quite a while, that is, since Madame had gotten many headaches trying on the last fall styles. But so far Katerina had been unsuccessful. Not that the Princess had such an extraordinary figure. But those tramps, those peasant slave girls, all had such miserable bodies: sturdy undercarriages, broad backs, large hips, terribly thick bottoms and legs. On the other hand, Nelidowa had very full, oval, pointed breasts, carried over an amazingly subtle waist. She had very well formed, straight legs and small, aristocratic hands and feet. Nobody knew these differences better than the old housekeeper, because she herself had taken the measurements of Nelidowa's body. The “little mother,” as her household serfs called her, had stood quite still as Katerina took her height, the measurements of her bust- above, over and below the full breasts-of the waist-line, the hips, the bottom, the thighs and the calves, the length of the arms and the legs. Nelidowa had stood quite still and had smiled, thinking it was the last time that she would have to do the trying-on herself. Katerina had taken these measurements in her own way. She could not read or write, she could not handle the tape measure as those silly-talking French clothiers did so skillfully. Therefore, she took ribbons of all colors, every time another color for another measurement, and cut them exactly to the right length. She was able to remember without fail which color represented, for example, the wrist or the ankle measurement, because this fat and slightly grey and ignorant peasant woman had a better sense of recollection than any of the caste of learned and educated men. These colored ribbons were then carefully sewn together so that they made a long string with which Katerina was taking her measurements. In this way, a practical yardstick of Nelidowa's proportions was procured. How often she had tried in vain! First she had gone around to the households of other Grandees, and after a friendly chat with the Major Domo or with the head housekeeper, she had looked the serf girls over, because it was always possible to buy a certain girl if no special reasons kept her in the household such as the master liking her best as a bed companion. But not even among the ladies' maids and linen girls, who were supposed to be of the finest kind, could she find any who came near her measurements. Then she had gone to the serf markets, which were held from time to time to make exchanges of serfs in the different houses of the aristocracy. After that, she had visited what one would call dealers, certain persons who had once been major domos and were liberated for one reason or another, and who made a scanty commission buying and selling serfs, mostly young, good looking girls who were traded to the many whorehouses which at that time began to flourish in Moscow, a fashion lately imported from Paris. In this way, Katerina had been hunting the whole winter, and while she found here and there a girl who came near the requirements, she had been told to bring a girl who would fit exactly. But how to get her? All this was on Katerina's mind on that April afternoon (it must have been, approximately, in the year 1728) while she was on her way to a private dealer in the poor quarters of the north of Moscow. The sudden haste which crept up on her made her do something that was extraordinary for her. She hailed one of the droshkies which hung around a street corner, one of those dilapidated one-horse carriages which were not noted for promising a safe arrival at one's destination. The half drunken driver sullenly started with her, after she had made a hard bargain for the fare. Soon she found herself in babbling conversation with the driver, who was her equal in being unable to keep his mouth shut, and who scratched his long hair when his ill-fed and tired horse stumbled over the rough cobblestones. Because it was not Katerina's way to keep anything to herself, the driver knew very soon that she was out to buy a serf girl for her Princess and mistress. Here he saw a chance for himself and told Katerina that a cousin of his, who had seen better days, was going to sell two of her girls, young, and sturdy, and very obedient workers. But Katerina did not want to listen. She was determined to go to her destination and there they went. The driver was paid, and his remark that he would wait until his client got through with her business, received no answer. Katerina was expected at the house of Ivan Drakeshkow, because she had sent him a message that she would look over his girls before they were offered at auction. She was greeted with dignity, almost reverence. A buyer with money is always welcome. Ivan Drakeshkow lived in a small, one story house, surrounded by an untidy little garden, where some chickens were busy looking for prey after the rain. Ivan had bought the property when he was an ebony cutter, a successful craftsman in his line, and during this time, he had married the parlor maid of a Grand Duchess, who had given the girl her liberty and a dowry. But Ivan had contracted an eye trouble which left him almost blind, and his wife, once good hearted and gay, had become a sour old witch who bossed him mercilessly. In fact, it was she who started the trade in serfs, and she earned just enough for food and fire-wood but never enough for a bottle of hard liquor, for which Ivan craved in vain. “Who does not work shall not drink,” was her motto, and she forced her good-for-nothing husband to wash the dishes. Katerina was offered, with too much politeness, a huge and comfortable armchair. She was treated with tea from the ever boiling samovar. She was drawn into a long conversation about the Czar and her master. But she was in haste, uneasy, and wanted to see the girls. Madame Drakeshkow saw that the business had to be started right away. “You see,” she said to Katerina, “I will have for the auction more than twenty girls, but they are not all here yet. The later they come to me the less I have to feed the slobs. So if you don't find what you are looking for, just keep in touch with me and I am absolutely sure I can serve you. There is nobody who knows so well all the serf girls in town.” (She had only seven at present and did not expect to have more for her auction, which Katerina knew very well.) She got up and went towards the bedroom next door to fetch the girls and presently came back with them, because the girls had been waiting to be called. “Open up those curtains and get some light in the room,” she called to her husband, who did obediently as he was told. After that he sat in a dark corner, looking at the wall.

It was because of his eyes that the room was always kept in semi-darkness. Katerina looked the seven girls over. They stood motionless in a row, in short Russian blouses and cheap, wide, woolen skirts; stockingless and in bare feet. Four of them Katerina dismissed right away, while Madame Drakeshkow praised eagerly the beauty and health of them all. The four, who were much too small or too tall, were very reluctantly sent away by Madame Drakeshkow, who was consoled by the demand of Katerina that the three remaining ones should take off their clothes. Buyers usually scrutinized the naked bodies carefully before purchase. The stripping was quickly done. The blouses had to be unbuttoned, the skirts unhooked, and the girls were nude. They now eyed Katerina, because she might become their future mistress, and although they discovered from her costume and bearing that she herself was only a serf, it was evident that she must be in an important position since she was delegated to buy new servants.

Katerina viewed the nude forms. Two of the girls were impossible at a glance. One had very small, almost boyish breasts and of course the wide hips which were so common. The other had such thick thighs and so broad a bottom, that she might already have had a couple of children. Katerina disregarded them entirely and, though they stayed in the room, it was only because it had been forgotten to send them away. Katerina now motioned the last girl nearer to the window and took out, to the amazement of Madame Drakeshkow, the aforementioned multicolored ribbons. With some misgivings she started with the height (which was correct), came to the bust, where more than the thickness of two fingers was missing and gave it up when the hips proved more than a hand's breadth too large. With a sigh, she put her ribbon back in her sack and moved without speaking to the exit door. She paid no attention to the rain of words from the utterly bewildered Madame Drakeshkow, who had not understood what she had been about. To measure a servant girl! Who had ever heard of such folly? But Katerina was already on the street with the look of a beaten dog in her eyes, undecided what to do next. The droshky driver, warmed meanwhile by a drink from a nearby public house, saluted her cheerfully and coaxed her to hire him again. He hoped that her eminence had completed her mission perfectly and that he could drive her home in roaring speed. Katerina let him know that she had been unsuccessful and that, by the name of her personal Saint, she would have to give up. Then the befuddled driver remembered that she wanted to buy some girls, and anew praised the goods which his cousin wanted to dispose of. He'd drive her over quickly and- Katerina looked at the sun. It was still early. One unsuccessful try more or less did not matter, and she climbed back into the carriage, which answered with a sigh, bending to her weight. We soon see Katerina breathing heavily while climbing up a creaking and steep staircase to the cousin's attic. It turned out that this cousin, a thin spinster of about fifty years, was handling the embroidery business on a small scale; that she wanted to give up her enterprise and leave Moscow in order to stay with relatives in the south. Lacking money for the long trip, the sale of the two girls should provide the means. Katerina was led into the adjoining room, a large, very light attic room, bare of any furniture except a work table crowded with materials of all kinds. On a bench before this table, bent over their work, sat two girls. The cousin commanded them to rise and it was then that Katerina uttered a cry of amazement. One of the girls was an exact duplicate of her Princess; at least her face and features were so perfectly like those of her mistress that Katerina first feared a spook might have tricked her. Still, the face did not matter at all. It was only the right contours of the body which were sought. The height was right, the form seemed so; Katerina hastily demanded that this dark-haired girl with the shining blue eyes be stripped. The other girl was a short, flat-nosed, sturdy creature and Katerina disregarded her. Not so the cousin. She made it quite clear that she would not sell one girl alone; it must be both or neither. Katerina mumbled that all that could be arranged, just let her see the dark one. The girls, who had no previous knowledge that their madame wanted to get rid of them, flushed slightly, looked at each other and at the cousin, and stood sheepishly. The cousin slapped the dark girl and demanded to know whether she had become deaf and when she wanted to start taking her clothes off. With excited fingers, the buttons of the blouse opened; then came a bodice of common linen, strapped and fastened with many ribbons, and from underneath a rough chemise stood out two full and hard breasts with deep red nipples. Katerina, the never smiling, grinned. It was the kind of bust she was looking for. The wide skirt of flowered and cheap material fell to the floor and a pair of wide trousers, reaching to the ankles, came into view. A bush of thick black hair protruded through the open slit of the drawers, which was there for the sake of commodity. (The women of that time attended to their natural functions through the gap of their trousers, which they opened up while sitting down for the necessity.) Soon shirt and drawers were also removed and Katerina eyed her find with growing satisfaction. She went around and around the nude girl. The waistline was perfect; the legs full and female but subtle; and the flesh seemed to be even softer than that of her mistress. To find out, she came close to the girl and felt her body. She was content. This was not the usual peasant type. This was not a tough and common brat. This girl had the form of an aristocrat, a form which must be like that of her “little mother.” Katerina remembered her measurements, took out her ribbons and began her comparisons. Well, the height was almost perfect, a little too tall, but she could tolerate that small difference. The length of the back, the breasts, the waistline, the thickness of the thighs, were right and what one might call right. Even the wrists and the ankles fitted.

It turned out that the length of the legs, measured from the crotch to the floor, was a trifle too long, but Katerina had already resolved that this girl was to be bought. The bargaining started. Katerina wanted to buy only the dark girl and she did not want to pay more than 50 rubles. The blonde imp was not wanted; her master owned 100,000 souls and did not need any more. The cousin shrieked that he did not then need to buy the dark girl either. While Katerina zealously defended the money of her master, the blonde girl leaned against the table and the nude, dark one stood motionless with hanging arms in the middle of the room, as if she had nothing to do with the affair. The driver here and there interjected an appeasing word from the door, where he loitered as a witness who is waiting for a handsome commission. The cousin was thin and hard. Katerina was eager to buy and, after a battle, the old housekeeper's hand went into the bodice which covered her enormous bosom and brought to light an ugly leather purse, from which she paid the cousin 90 rubles in glittering gold.

She had gotten the price down from the demanded hundred, but she had to take both girls. No, she was not sending a carriage for them.

She was going to take both with her. She was afraid she might lose her precious discovery. They would start immediately. The girls had nothing to pack. They had no belongings except some woolen kerchiefs and the like, which were quickly made into a bundle. After the dark girl was hurriedly dressed again, Katerina took a quick leave with her purchase, though not without assuring the cousin anew that the price paid had been outrageous. The cousin made the sign of the cross over her former serfs. They in turn, automatically and without feeling, kissed the hem of her dress and soon the three women sat in the carriage. The driver was paid a little distance from Sokolow's house and received what he demanded. It is quite sure that with this money and the commission from his cousin, he was senselessly drunk for several days. Starting toward the palace, Katerina asked the dark girl what her name was. “Grushenka,” answered the girl readily. That was the first word she spoke after she had become one of the uncounted souls of Prince Alexey Sokolow. She did not then know the name of her new master.

CHAPTER TWO

It must be remembered that our story takes place shortly after the death of Peter the Great and that the revolutionizing changes he had made during his violent dictatorship came at this time to their first blossom. Peter the Great had done away with the seclusion of women who had lived before then in the oriental life of the harem. He had forced them into society, where they were at first so awkward that he got them drunk in order to loosen them up. He had lifted the Bojars, the aristocratic caste, to an elevated position by forcing the working class into unheard of servitude and submission. He had, by the most cruel tortures, in which he participated personally, built up a social order in which might was God and the serf a slave. He had forced Western culture upon his Bojars and one of his orders had been that they should build themselves great castles and houses. Alexey Sokolow was only a score of years the junior of this great ruler. While eager to take all the advantages which were offered to his class, he had enough cunning to see that it was wiser to stay away from the inner court circle, where the greatest generals or officials were uncertain when they would find themselves on the rack or the wheel and eventually beheaded. Sokolow had therefore established his city life in Moscow instead of St. Petersburg, and here in Moscow, he had erected the magnificent palace which can be seen to this day. Katerina dismissed the droshky a few blocks away, so as not to be seen by other servants riding in a hired carriage, and led the two bewildered serf girls to the huge arch of the main entrance which was guarded by two soldiers with muskets, high tin helmets and high boots. They paid no attention to the three women who quickly entered the archway and were admitted to the inner courtyard. Flowers, lampoons, grass, even bushes covered the tremendous square of the inner court. Tables, chairs and benches stood about in great disorder. This courtyard was normally a barren place of cobblestones, but the Princess had given an entertainment the night before for which the flowers and grass had been raised in hot-houses in the country. Katerina gave her wards no time to look or to think. She hurried them through the court and down a stone staircase to the basement, which consisted of endless halls, rooms and kitchens. Here Katerina left the blonde girl with a woman who seemed to be an overseer of this underground labyrinth. She then took Grushenka by the hand and marched on with her. This time she led her up a small and winding wooden staircase, which ended at the second floor. Thick Turkish carpets covered the light hallway and Grushenka soon saw a room which she was going to know very thoroughly afterwards. It was the try-on room of the Princess, fitted with a big oak table in the middle of the room and huge chestnut closets and presses along the walls, between which mirrors of all kinds and dimensions were installed. On a curt order from Katerina the girl took all her clothes off and, entirely nude, was dragged by the old housekeeper through other rooms, which were magnificently adorned with silks and brocades. Katerina led the substitute of Madame through the half open door of her mistress' boudoir, in her excitement not waiting for permission to enter. The Princess was sitting before a mirror at her toilet table. Boris, the coiffeur, was busy curling her long, dark brown hair. A young serf girl knelt on the floor and put rouge on her mistress' toe-nails. In the corner, near a window, sat “Fraulein,” an elderly spinster who had been a German governess in different houses of the great, and who was now reading aloud in a dry and monotonous voice some French poetry. The Princess listened with only slight understanding or interest. The French poet had worked into his fable all kinds of persons from the Greek and Latin mythology, which meant nothing to the capricious listener. But when he described how the enormous shaft of Mars was pushed into the grotto of Venus, that called for noticeable attention. In her mirror, Princess Nelidowa had seen Katerina approaching with Grushenka and waved angrily not to be disturbed. So Grushenka had an opportunity to study the group just described. The Princess wore only a short batiste chemise which left her more or less uncovered. She did not mind that Boris, clad in the formal house uniform of the Sokolows with a long pig-tail at his back, could see her nudity, because he was only a serf. He had been sent to Dresden some years ago to learn the art of hairdressing with a very famous master in the Saxonian capital. Sokolow had intended to rent him out to one of the ladies' hairdressing parlors recently opened in Moscow, but the Princess had taken the clever man into her private service. He was responsible for her many tufts and locks worn in the daytime and for her powdered wigs decorated with precious stones which went with the evening gowns. When the reading of the poem had ceased, Katerina could restrain herself no longer. “I have her! I have her!” she cried and dragged Grushenka closer to the Princess. “I found a substitute who fits you perfectly and she is ours now!” “I know you could have found her sooner,” said Nelidowa maliciously. “But you'll be forgiven since you dug her up at last. Now show me, does she really have the same measurements or are you lying to me?” She rose hastily from her stool, so that poor Boris was in danger of burning her with his hot irons. “She really and truly fits,” answered Katerina. “Here, I'll show you.” And she took out the multicolored ribbons to prove the fact. But Nelidowa was not interested in that.

With sharp eyes she scrutinized Grushenka's body and she was not dissatisfied. “So! That is how I look. A full pair of good breasts, aren't they? But mine are better!”-and taking out her own breasts from her thin shirt and holding them close to Grushenka's, she started a minute comparison-“Mine are oval and that is rare, but this slob's are round. Look at her nipples! How big and common!”-and she tickled with her own nipples those of the girl. Now it is true, there was a slight difference, but hardly noticeable. Nelidowa then took hold of Grushenka's waist with both hands and began to handle her not too tenderly. “I always said,” the mistress continued, “that I have an excellent waistline and here one can see it. Among all the court ladies, not one can compare with me.” That it was not her own waistline she admired but that of her new slave girl did not come to her mind. She proceeded to the thighs which she pinched, surprised by Grushenka's very soft flesh. “My legs,” she commented, displaying now her own thighs and squeezing them a bit, “are sturdier than those of this little bitch, but we'll take the softness out of her.” With mock laughter she commanded Grushenka to turn around. Nelidowa as well as Grushenka had a remarkably well modeled back; round female shoulders, soft and full lines down to the bottom, small and well rounded hips. Only Grushenka's buttocks were too small, almost boyish and went too evenly to the thighs. Her legs and feet were normal and straight and could have been used by artists as models. “Now!” laughed the Princess. “This is the first time that I see my own back and truly I like it. Isn't it fine that this tramp should have just my back? Next time my father confessor demands that I inflict some lashes on my own poor back, I can take hers as my substitute and I can be more generous with the number of blows I give myself.” To demonstrate this splendid idea, she gave a goodly pinch to Grushenka's flesh below the right shoulder blade. Grushenka twisted her mouth a bit but stood motionless without moving. The witnesses of this scene, especially Katerina, were astonished by the similarity between these two women as they stood close together. It was astounding to see that not only the figures, but the features and faces of both were so much alike that one could have sworn they were twin sisters. Nature sometimes plays tricks of that kind. Grushenka was younger; she had a whiter skin; she blushed at present in her excitement and looked fresher. Also her flesh was softer and a bit more female than that of Nelidowa, and she had a timid bearing and was not so self contained as the Princess. Otherwise, they were strangely alike, though no one would have dared to tell this to the Princess. “I am pleased with you, and I'll present you with my new prayer book with the pictures of the Saints in it which you admired the other day. It's yours. Go and get it.” Katerina, with a deep curtsy, kissed her mistress' hand, overjoyed that she had at last satisfied her. She was taking the girl out of the room when she was stopped by a last word of her mistress, who had watched the nude form depart. “By the way, Katerina, have all the hair under her arms and on her dirty crotch removed so that she doesn't infect my garments. And have her spotlessly washed and powdered. You know how filthy these pigs are.” Katerina assured her she would have the girl taken care of. Katerina had Grushenka take her clothes over her arm and went with her again to the basement.

She knew that both girls had to be taken in as new serfs and she took care of the requirements usual on such occasions in her efficient way.

Grushenka and the other girl sat a few minutes later before a huge, cleanly washed table. Soon plates of food, brought quickly by other serf girls, piled up before them. A new serf was always fed to the utmost by the new master, and the girls were hardly able to do justice to the resources of the kitchen of Prince Sokolow. Their former diet as supplied by the stingy cousin had consisted of coarse bread, onions and rice, and many of the dishes which now stood before them were utterly unknown to them. They ate all they could but had to give up when a big apple pudding proved too much for their filled stomachs. Grushenka had been sitting nude through the meal. When they had eaten, the blonde girl was asked to take her clothes off.

They were then requested by the woman in charge of the basement to throw their clothes into a big stove in the kitchen, where they soon burned away. A great master would not allow a servant to wear clothes another master had previously given him, and also it is well known that clothes often brought the germs of disease into a house. Pest and smallpox were flourishing and no precaution against these scourges could be omitted. After this the girls were brought over to the servants' bath, where a few bath-girls waited for them. They were soaped all over with a stinging soap and afterwards put in two wooden tubs with very hot water so that their skin became red as boiled lobsters. They were then pushed into the steam-room, in charge of a one-armed invalid, a former soldier and bodyguard of the Prince. He did not look at the girls. He merely coughed and muttered vile and disgruntled words because his body and mind were unbalanced.

Grushenka sat in the large, bare room with its wet brick walls and steaming boilers and began for the first time to give herself an accounting of the last few hours. From the poor rooms of the morose and thin cousin, she had been brought to the fairy palace of a Prince.

For what, she could not understand. And while she wiped away the pearls of water which collected on her bust and belly, she whispered to her companion, “What do they want of me? What do you think they want?” But the blonde one whispered back that it would be ten thousand times better than before and that Prince Sokolow-they had learned the name from the girls who had previously served them-had so many thousands of serfs that if they managed rightly, they certainly would have the time of their lives. So far it was too good for words: a dinner of abundance, a real bath as it was given only to fine people, even a steam-room for the servants! Who would have dreamt of that?

Presently they were called out of the steam-room, their skin loosened by the heat, and were given a very cold washing with clean water which was poured on them from buckets. They shivered and screamed trying to avoid the gushes but it was quickly over. Then they were rubbed with thick towels and dried thoroughly. Katerina now took charge of them again to bring them to their quarters. The male servants lived in the stables or over the stables. The women had their quarters in the loft of the main house which was under the supervision of an elderly serf woman. Breathing heavily, Katerina led the way up the back stairs, scolding herself inwardly for going so seldom to the loft. (She herself had a chamber in the basement.) Her old knees resented the many hundred steps. The upper floor of the palace contained many rooms and large halls, in some of which were rows of wooden beds and board closets for clothing and linen. The woman in charge rose out of a half slumber to meet Katerina's unexpected visit and showed the girls to two unoccupied beds at the end of one of the halls. She left, upon Katerina's command, to fetch some linen and garments for the newcomers, and Katerina, catching her breath again, turned to the girls. “I did not look you over before buying you,” she said to the blonde and stocky girl. “It was my duty, but I hope you are clean and will not bring sickness to the house. Let me look you over now.” The blonde girl grinned, knowing she was healthy as a bear and that her brown skin did not easily take infection. Katerina started her inspection in a matter-of-fact way. She opened the girl's mouth and looked over the teeth, which were sharp as those of an animal. She fingered the small breasts. (The girl was not more than seventeen years old.) She looked over the flesh of the belly, the legs, the back, under the arms and finally had the girl lie down over the bed with her legs spread open. She opened the lips of her womanhood and felt with one finger for the virgin membrane which was still in place. Katerina understood these things. She had helped many women in childbed and had acted as midwife when any of the women of the household gave birth. The girl was in good shape and underwent these operations with the stubborn submissiveness of the Russian serf.

Katerina then addressed the girls with a little speech as was usual on such occasions. She pointed out that as they had eaten today, so would they continue to eat, that they would be clothed and housed in splendid manner and that they were to be proud to be the servants of the noble Prince Sokolow. On the other hand they were required to be extremely obedient and industrious, and to do their best for their new master. If they failed in that, they would be punished heavily and so it would be to their own good to submit to rules and orders.

To make this clear to them, and to inaugurate them into the household, she would now give them a light and friendly whipping, hoping she would never again have the necessity to do so. She then ordered Grushenka, to whom this address was mostly delivered, to lie on the bed in order to receive the strokes. Meanwhile the woman had come back with blankets and linen and, hearing Katerina's words, brought from the middle of the hall two buckets in which fresh switches were kept in salt water. Grushenka lay down on the bed on her stomach and buried her head in her hands. Often as she had been subjected to bodily chastisement, she could not endure it. She trembled, and kept her legs close together in nervous tension. But that was not to Katerina's liking, who saw it as an act of revolt.

Roughly she pulled apart the girl's legs, shouting at her to loosen up the muscles and be still or she would give her the much more painful leather whip. “Didn't you hear what the Princess said?” she added. “We will take the softness out of you, you yellow dog.” And she started to prepare the fine bottom for the punishment by squeezing hard the full flesh. Katerina now had evil eyes, her mouth was tightly shut and the nostrils of her nose moved greedily. Such a little imp of a serf, making a fuss because she was to get the switch! Grushenka groaned and tried to stop quivering, but she was so frightened she could hardly control herself. Katerina took the switch from the servant woman and ordered the blonde girl, who watched the proceedings without emotion, to count aloud to twenty-five. The first blow went over the right side of the bottom and it was a heavy stroke, because Katerina was angry and was a muscular peasant woman. Grushenka cried out and bent her body up as if she wanted to rise, but put herself again in position. The second blow and the next few went over the same thigh, where a crimson pattern appeared in sharp contrast to the whiteness of the rest of the body. Katerina proceeded to the other thigh which was next to her, and laid blow after blow with great firmness on the skin. Grushenka screamed and shook her body, but she did not move away and always got back into position. She had received almost twenty-five blows. Katerina had several times changed the switches which broke into pieces. When Katerina applied the last strokes to the insides of the legs which had not been hit before, it was too much for Grushenka. She rolled over to the wall and held both hands to her bottom, pleading for mercy and protesting she could not stand it. But Katerina was not willing to give way to a young and obstinate serf girl. Therefore, with an energy and brutality which one would not have suspected in this fat and greyish housekeeper, she forced Grushenka to the middle of the bed, laying her on her back with her arms folded under her head, and spread the girl's legs open with rude force. “If your rear can't stand it,” she shouted at the frightened girl, “then your front can have it, and don't dare to move, because if you do, I'll have some stable men put you on the rack and give you the cow-hide and we'll see how you'll like that.” She began with fierce strokes to whip the inside and the front of the thighs. Grushenka was so thoroughly paralyzed and frightened that she did not dare to close her legs or to protect herself with her hands, although she moved instinctively to do so. She received about ten strokes in this way, and although Katerina avoided striking the exposed sex, for Grushenka it was an agony which seemed endless.

Finally it was over. Katerina's eyes remained fixed on the growth of hair at the juncture of the soft thighs. She had forgotten to find out whether this girl was a virgin or not and she stooped without ceremony to make the examination. As soon as she touched the lips Grushenka became convulsive, partly because she expected more painful punishment, partly because she was sensitive at that spot. Katerina pushed her down and shoved her finger in until she found the resistance of the membrane. Grushenka was still a virgin, and as far as Katerina was concerned, she should remain so. She was through with Grushenka now and ordered her to get up, and looked with disdain at the crying, twitching face. What a soft girl, who could not stand such a little punishment! Without much enthusiasm, she turned to the blonde creature. She ordered her to lie on her back and to move her legs up so that her knees touched her shoulders. The blonde did so without hesitation. She had thick skin and a whipping more or less did not matter much in her young life. Katerina felt the flesh of the firm bottom which was put conveniently at her disposal. She was hardly able to squeeze it because the flesh was so hard that it did not move under her fingers. She gave the girl some twenty strokes, not so severe as those she had given Grushenka, and the blonde one counted the strokes herself in a subdued but clear voice. It was one of those quick and unexciting beatings which mean nothing. When it was over the blonde one rubbed herself briskly and that was all. Katerina had both girls kiss the end of the switch which she held in her hands, then ordered them to go to bed and stay there until they were called the next day to their respective duties. The blonde was to join the sewing crew, because she was handy with the needle after her education by the cousin, and Katerina herself would take care of Grushenka. Both girls crept dully between the sheets, Grushenka sobbing, the other one quite content. “What do they want of me?” sobbed Grushenka. “What can they want…?” until she fell asleep.

CHAPTER THREE

The next morning, quite early, Grushenka, who had slept soundly in a bed that seemed to her the best she had ever had, was awakened by noisy shouting. With wondering eyes she looked about her. A hundred girls and women seemed to fill the big loft, yawning, shouting, babbling and laughing in a confusion of washing and teasing and dressing and admonishments to hurry up.

Actually, there were only sixty-three servant girls housed here, ranging in age from fifteen to about thirty-five. Younger and older women were not kept in the city palace. The girls put on all kinds of dresses, according to their duties; the kitchen maids, dark woolen garments; the linen and silver maids, a white uniform-like costume; the sewing squad, flowery cashmeres. The personal chamber and bedmaids of the Princess, about eight or ten in all, and the special favorites of the Prince, slept near the apartments of their masters.

Some privileged elderly women and cooks had quarters in the basement.

Soon they were all sitting on long benches in a big hall near the kitchen in the basement, and steaming soups and white bread were devoured in great quantities. Katerina always saw to it that the servants got plenty to eat. Not that she was concerned with their likes and desires. She simply wanted to keep them content and healthy, to enable them to perform their duties to the last ounce. Katerina was quite a fanatic on this point and any shirker could be sure of the whip, if not of a harder punishment. After breakfast, Grushenka received the curt order to go to the bathroom. She could not imagine why. She had never before been allowed more than one bath in a month; bathing was expensive because it meant fire-wood. Yet, now she was bathed and scrubbed thoroughly. Furthermore, the bath-girls were told to clean her up every day right after breakfast and to see to it that she was spotless or else they would be sorry. The bath-girls took no chances and they scrubbed and rubbed and cleaned her everywhere and anywhere. Grushenka was then told to take her clothes over her arm and to wait in the try-on room for Katerina. There she sat now, on an oaken trunk full of precious silks and embroideries, shivering after the bath, her clothes clutched to her body. Many maids passed through the room, walking here and there, some times giving her a friendly nod, mostly not taking notice of her. Presently Katerina appeared, and seeing Grushenka, she went to a closet and got a box of powder and a big powder puff. She proceeded to teach her how to powder her whole body, omitting no part. Then she suddenly remembered the shaving business. She sent for Boris, who was soon there with his outfit of razors and soap. “You heard what Her Highness said yesterday,” she addressed the barber. “Shave cleanly her hair under the arms and between the legs. But don't cut her. We paid a big price for the bitch.” Boris made Grushenka hold both her arms straight up and soaped and shaved her under the arms, quite cleverly and quickly. He then glanced over to see if Katerina was still there. He had never before shaved a girl's pubic area and he wanted to have some fun with it. But Katerina stood solidly there, leaning on an oaken stick and looking sternly at Boris, who quickly avoided her eyes.

Grushenka was now laid on a table with her legs apart. Katerina saw that the marks of the switch were clearly visible in red-violet welts. “She has a softer skin than all of them,” thought the old housekeeper, but not with pity, rather with a resolution that she would thrash the girl more often in order to get her used to it.

Grushenka was trembling nervously as Boris, with his scissors, cut the long curls from her Mount of Venus and below. He then soaped her with his brush and expanded the skin with two fingers of his left hand. There followed the soft grating of the knife, that cut the hair closely to the white flesh. He started to put his fingers between the folds as if to extend the skin better, but Katerina tapped sharply with her stick and he thought better of it. A wet towel was now applied and the job was done. Katerina called out to the sewing rooms next door that a couple of dressing girls should come in. She had Grushenka dressed up in one of the Princess' outfits to see whether she would really do as a model for the new summer wardrobe.

Long silk stockings were applied, a chemise with golden threads was put on her. Long trousers, fitted and closed with ribbons on the ankles, came next. A crimson bodice without stays was tied on. (Stays were worn in Western Europe at that time, but not in Russia, where the elegant women liked to show their breasts with the nipples sticking out above their dresses.) A tunic, which took the place of the skirt and blouse, was then hooked and buttoned, and over this fell a long loose cloak, leaving the arms underneath bare. During this procedure all the girls of the tailoring and sewing departments had left their work and watched eagerly. When Grushenka was ready and was told to walk up and down the large room, turning and displaying the costume and herself, the watchers clapped their hands and stamped their feet.

“That is our Princess!” they cried. “Just like her! Can you imagine?”

Katerina heard this outburst with satisfaction. Yes, she had found the clotheshorse for her mistress. Grushenka was instructed that she was to be used from now on as the fitting model for Her Highness. Then and there started for Grushenka a long period of waiting and dreaming, dreaming and waiting until some dressmaker would come around and fit some garments on her, turning her around and around, trying on, admiring his own craftsmanship, or cursing the sewing girls who had done a bad job. These try-ons were at first very displeasing to Grushenka, because all these workers, men and women, some of them serfs, some of them free people, who called themselves artists, touched her body all over and took many liberties with her. This was all the more so because she was such a perfect counterfeit of her Madame, before whom these men crawled on their bellies. Thus it was fine fun for them to paw her breasts, to pinch her nipples and to play around quite abundantly with her privates. This last Grushenka hated especially and she tried to shove them away, only to be stuck painfully with a needle in the buttocks or in the breast. So she got used to it, especially when she found that when she resisted she was plagued much more, but if she kept still, the men were not so insistent. Months went by this way, first in the palace in Moscow, then at one of the great estates in the country; months of dreaming and waiting. Of course, Grushenka, meanwhile, got well acquainted with the great household. She listened to the gossip about the brutal and drunken Prince, whom the Princess hated, but played up to; of the young lover the Princess had taken; of the way she had her bed-maids make love to her to satisfy her everlasting cravings. But Grushenka heard these tales without taking notice and nobody seemed to take much notice of her. It was hard to say of what she was thinking, maybe of the clouds which passed along or of a bird in the big tree outside the window. Then came the day which changed her whole life. The Princess had been out to a party and it had turned out badly. Even her lover had neglected her, nay, had flirted openly with a rival. The Princess had drunk too much, had had an argument with another lady, and her husband, the Prince, furious at such misbehavior, had slapped her face violently while driving home.

Nelidowa was wild. She accused everybody but herself. She let the whip fly freely on the backs of the girls who undressed her and still was not able to ease her rage. When she saw her brocaded gown with the silver stripes lying on the floor, she suddenly remembered that Grushenka had modeled it for her approval that same afternoon. In her crazed state, she imagined that this gown and thus the girl who had displayed it, were responsible for her misadventures. It was two o'clock at night and Grushenka was fast asleep, when she was dragged naked from her bed. Drunk with sleepiness and knowing of no fault she had committed, the girl was taken before her mistress. The Princess, now in bed, accused her in the vilest terms of having induced her to wear an unbecoming dress and ordered one of the chambermaids to lash Grushenka over her bare back with the leather whip which lay always ready for this purpose on the toilet table. Another maid stepped in front of Grushenka, turning her back toward her, took the arms of the frightened girl over her shoulders and bent forward so that Grushenka lost her foothold on the floor and lay helplessly on the back of the chambermaid. The whipping started at once. The strokes cut whistling through the air. The shoulders, the back, the behind were hit and hit by a rain of blows. Grushenka did not know that the whipping girl applied the punishment with great craftsmanship, cracking the whip loudly but taking care that the lash cut the flesh as little as possible, for this girl was angry at her Madame and sorry for the innocent victim. In spite of this fact, Grushenka underwent awful pain and screamed and kicked her legs as well as she could. The Princess lay in her bed, her teeth bared in rage, her fingers with their long nails held in the form of claws as if she wanted to scratch the flesh off the girl's bones. Although not told to, the whipping girl finally ceased beating as if she were exhausted from swinging the lash and Nelidowa did not command her to go on because she felt suddenly sick from the liquor she had drunk. Grushenka was now lowered to the floor and, putting both her hands to her aching behind, she walked straddle-legged from the room. At this moment the eyes of the Princess fixed on Grushenka's slit, which, having been shaven as usual, was entirely open to sight. The Princess stared hard at this because it was formed differently than her own, while the girl was supposed to have a body similar to hers. Nelidowa did not say a word about this dissimilarity, but she kept the thought in her mind.

How was it that Grushenka had a nicer love spot than she herself? One afternoon, when Nelidowa lay idly on her couch, she made up her mind to find out and forthwith sent for Grushenka. She made the girl take her clothes off and was glad to see the blue and red stripes which the whip had left, especially on one side of the body where the end of the strap had cut the flesh. She asked Grushenka to come very close to her, straddle-legged, so that she could inspect her. Of course the slit was very finely made; the Princess had to tell herself that in spite of the anger she felt. The lips were thin and rosy and cut the oval of the Venus hill in an even curve which did not stick out and puff up like her own. With her eyes on the girl's spot, but without touching her, Nelidowa started to question her. “When were you laid last?” she began. Grushenka hardly understood the meaning of the question. But the Princess insisted, “How long ago is it, since you were poked by a man?” Now Grushenka knew what was meant and answered quite firmly, “No man has ever touched me, your Highness. I am a virgin.” “Oh!” thought the Princess. “Of course. When I was still with the nuns my pussy was probably like hers, but since that old bastard (by which she meant of course the Prince) every so often puts his damned machine in me…” But aloud she said with laughter, “I'll fix you up my child, and that right now. Still a pimply virgin, eh? You lie down here now and we'll soon attend to you.” She got up from the couch with some spirit. She enjoyed this splendid idea. It would pass the time piquantly. Who to get for the job? Oh, yes, there was her riding groom, that broad-shouldered fellow with the big bush of tousled hair. His blondness would make a good match for Grushenka's deep black hair. Nelidowa had looked sometimes with longing at Ivan (she had a habit of calling all male servants Ivan) and had more than once glanced over his muscular arms and legs and rested her eyes on his trousers. She would have tried him herself, but she had no desire for the brand of brutal male love which her husband supplied. However, this was just the right man to rape that stupid lump on the couch.

Ivan had been loading hay. When he came in, in linen trousers and an open shirt, hay was still clinging to his hair and clothes and he brought with him the smell of the stable. Meanwhile, the five or six chambermaids who were always around their mistress, had not been idle.

They enjoyed in advance, like Madame, the spectacle which was coming.

They had put a pillow under Grushenka's bottom, with much giggling they had smeared some salve in her gap, and pitied her in mock tones that she was going to be torn. Grushenka lay very still, her hands clasped to her face, uneasy and wondering. Perhaps she had dreamt during the past months of the lover to whom she wanted to give herself. Perhaps she had made him a romantic hero, some man from the moon. Yet here she lay, waiting to be ravished by a stable boy.

“Ivan,” said the Princess, “I have called you because this poor girl complained to me that no man has ever made love to her and her virginity is itching her terribly. Go on, my boy, and make a poor longing virgin happy.” Ivan looked bewildered from his mistress to the nude form on the couch and again from one to the other. He fingered his hands before his body as though he were holding a cap and turning it uneasily around. He did not move. Was it a trap or was she serious? The Princess was becoming impatient. “Get your trousers down! Don't you hear?” she shouted at him. Ivan mechanically opened up his trousers. They fell to his feet and he pulled his shirt up over his navel. The eyes of all the girls, except Grushenka's, stared at his big dark tool which hung its head listlessly and unfit for work. “Now go over a kiss your bride,” continued the mistress, leaning on the toilet table. Slowly, Ivan moved to the couch, then with a determination to go ahead, he took Grushenka's hand from her face, bent over her and kissed her on the mouth. The chambermaids applauded. But Grushenka lay so lifeless that Ivan lost his pluck again. He fidgeted, looked at the naked girl and at the others and did nothing more. It was again the Princess who had to bring the proceedings to life. “Lay on top of her, you stupid ass!” she cried. As ordered, so was it done. Ivan, hindered in his movements by the trousers around his ankles, laid himself on top of Grushenka. And suddenly he began to enjoy the job to which he had been assigned. Grushenka kept her legs closed and pressed her knees so tightly together that they hurt, but Ivan struggled to get between. He moved a bit, got his strong hand between her thighs and with a sudden jerk, lifted her right leg high up, almost to her shoulder. He now got between her legs with his own. The resistance of the girl made him hot. The moment his manhood touched her, Grushenka lost her apathy, and with a wild scream, started to fight.

Ivan had his arms around her, the left one over her right shoulder, the right one in the middle of her back. The tight grasp and the weight of him could not be shaken off. But Grushenka could move her hips and her legs and she made ample use of these when the dangerous shaft came in contact with her love-nest. The Princess, who would have killed any serf not performing her orders, was highly delighted to see this struggle and slipped her hand under her chemise to give herself a soft caress with her fingers. Ivan tried to find his way. He moved his right hand under the buttocks of the struggling girl. He lifted his own behind and tried by crafty pushes to find the entrance, but now one of the maids came to his help. She went around the couch and caught Grushenka's other knee which she forced up against Grushenka's shoulder and moved it so that the virginal love-spot lay unprotected and open. “Now!” shouted all the watchers, and Ivan, well understanding that he was at last in position, lowered his weapon with force. Pressing with his right hand against the girl's bottom, with one firm and slow stroke, he thrust himself in up to the hilt.

Grushenka let out a terrible cry. After that she lay still as a corpse. Ivan moved back and forth several times until, passionately groaning, he felt he could not hold it any longer. He spent. His muscles relaxed; breathing heavily he lay on her, stupidly exhausted.

The Princess was furious, her maids disappointed. They had hoped to see a good, long match, but it was over before it had really started. Certainly there was nothing thrilling in that. “Get out! You brute!” commanded the Princess. “Get back to your stable and stay there!” Ivan collected his pants, dropped his head and left the room like a beaten man. He did not dare to look up or to glance at Grushenka. She lay with a pale face like a corpse on the couch, the middle of her body still raised by the pillow under her. She had fainted and one could see that she was quite ill. With dismay the Princess had her carried up to her room. What sort of girl was this-who could not even stand a poke? That was what she said to a lady at afternoon tea as she was relating the story, and added that the silly peasants were too stupid for words. The lady was not of that opinion. She answered that she often arranged a party for some of her hand-maids and serf-men and that they put on very exciting shows. She promised to invite Nelidowa as spectator to such a party and the Princess graciously accepted. Meanwhile, Grushenka was in her bed, taken care of by Katerina. Katerina was afraid this episode might lead to pregnancy, and though she knew how to handle an abortion, she was afraid Grushenka's figure might change and Grushenka had become very useful. The scenes the Princess used to make because of her try-ons had been avoided since Grushenka had taken her place as a model. Therefore Grushenka had been washed and cleaned and, in spite of her protests, a hot irrigation had been made with water into which Katerina had put a powder. Next a cold wet towel was put between her legs. It did not ease the pain. She still had to overcome the shock which the rape had effected. She was allowed to stay in bed all the next day by the old housekeeper, who muttered, “What a soft girl! What a soft girl!”

CHAPTER FOUR

The weeks after her rape were perhaps the happiest of Grushenka's youth. At least she looked her best and became a ravishing beauty. She was awakened. Her days of dreaming were over and gave place to a lively vivacity and an ever good mood. Many times, full of hell, she played little pranks on the other girls and the tailor folks, and was sometimes punished by having to stand in a dark corner or with a few strokes from the whip. They were not severe punishments. The girl had such an air of good-hearted spirits and happiness about her that no one became really angry with her. The reasons for her change were as follows: A few days after losing her maidenhood, she had had to show her mistress a new costume, a light blue, fluffy affair with many ribbons and laces. The Princess had liked it, and incidentally had ordered the girl to show her sex.

She wanted to see what changes had come from the assault. Grushenka lifted the costume carefully in front, another girl spread the slit of her trousers open while the Princess took a good look. There was no change. Nelidowa was thinking that one poke might not effect a great change, but that if it should be used often, the rosy and thin lips would certainly become thick and vulgar. Hence the order to Katerina that Grushenka was to be poked daily and that Katerina should supply various men in order that the business be attended to properly.

Katerina disliked this new order, for which she could not imagine the reason, but what could she do? She moved Grushenka's bed to a separate room in the basement and, after dinner, gave the girl her instructions. First she gave her a salve and ordered her to smear it every day into her tube. This salve was to kill the sperm. The irrigations, to be taken afterwards, would make doubly sure that she should not get an enlarged belly. Presently she sent a stable boy to the girl's room, a red-haired, freckled, undersized man, who grinned with delight. The sex life of the servants was controlled, but once in a while they were allowed to do some love-making. It was not half enough and they always craved for the opportunity. Very often there was a love match between two serfs and they were sometimes allowed to marry, receiving from the master a shack and a bit of land that they had to till in addition to the land of the owner of the estate. More often, when some girl got pregnant, the master commanded one of his men to marry her. It was always a feast to be allowed to make love and it was usually done in the hay of the stables or somewhere in the fields. A good party in a bed and an order to give her the limit was a pleasure! When the news came to the stable, the men threw dice for the trick and the redhead was much envied when he won. Grushenka was sitting uneasily on her bed; she held one hand over her breasts, the other one clutched her thin dress in front. With a pitiful voice she begged him not to take her, to spare her. The shock from Ivan's handling was still in her bones. But the redhead had other ideas. He threw his wooden slippers into the air, slipped out of his shirt and trousers, and assured the frightened girl that it should be as if it were his wedding night and that he would not need any help like Ivan. Nay, he'd do the job alone and quite thoroughly. As he stood before her, naked, she did not know what to do. She knelt before him and implored him to let her be, but he instead took hold of her hair and pressed her face against his lower body and laughed aloud when she tried to struggle away. Then he lifted her up bodily and threw her on the bed. “For the quick poke in the woods,” he said, “it's all right with clothes on, but I'll have you nude, my little bride. It's so much nicer.” He started to loosen the hooks of her skirt and to tear it off her. Grushenka felt that resistance would not do any good and that her garments would only be torn, and that meant the whip, so she unbuttoned her blouse herself and got rid of her trousers, while her lover-by-command lauded her change of mind. When they lay belly on belly, Grushenka again begged and prayed. She was very beautiful and the redhead had no reason to hurt her. He promised to be careful and explained to her that it would not cause her any pain, that she would, in fact, like it, and that if she followed his suggestions, they could both enjoy it profoundly. The frightened girl promised to do all he said and he proceeded with great care. He tickled her with the point of his shaft for a while and then inserted it by degrees, moving always a bit back and shuffling it in again, each time a little more, until his hair rubbed closely against her well shaven Mount of Venus. He then inquired whether it had hurt and Grushenka answered in a soft, wondering voice, “Just a bit. Oh! Be careful.” But it had not hurt her at all, it was just a funny feeling, not exactly exciting, but almost pleasing. He told her to move slowly up and down, which she did, until he started to heave and to push, finally forgetting himself. Grushenka did not answer his strokes, she was still afraid that it might hurt her again. But she held her arms close to his back, and when he finally finished, she pressed herself firmly against his belly. He had not had enough.

He stayed in her bed joking with her. He played around with her, laughed to see that she was shaved and pinched her bottom, good-heartedly. She discovered with amazement that he was ready again and she did not fight him off when he put it in anew. This time her fright was gone. She thought, “Really, it's not so bad.” Still she did not get a thrill out of it, although it felt rather pleasant.

Every night after dinner, a man came to her. Sometimes they were elderly and brutal and did not undress, just laid her over the bed, gave her a slap on the behind and disappeared. Sometimes, they were mere boys, who were shy, and Grushenka had a great time teasing them and working them up and finally seducing them many times so that they walked from the room with weak knees. Grushenka learned to love it. She could not say when she climaxed for the first time, but after it had happened, she succeeded in getting the supreme thrill with every man; half a dozen times if she liked her partner. She learned how to make love and soon became a passionate lover. The male servants in the house who had tried her out, praised her with glittering eyes.

What a girl! What a figure! A volcano! These were fine weeks, weeks of thrills, weeks during which her body filled out and her mind became clear, weeks without dreams, full of reality. She looked at other girls with searching curiosity. She learned from them about their love affairs; she studied her mistress with appraising eyes.

Couldn't she manage to get a nice boy as a husband and a little house with some acres and have children too? Why not? She learned who was influencing the master and the mistress, she made plans, she laid eyes on one of the best body servants of the Prince, and though she never spoke with him or had intercourse with him, she believed she had fallen in love with him. All that ended suddenly, and it was again her mistress who effected the change, her mistress who was by right and law Grushenka's destiny. Nelidowa used to start many things, give many orders, and forget about them again. Her mind wandered.

Everything that did not pertain to her lover (of whom we will have to speak later) was done in a haphazard way. But Nelidowa remembered, one night when she came from the bedroom of her husband, that Grushenka was to have been her means for finding out how continuous love-making would change a woman's body; so she sent for her. Grushenka had had a quick and meaningless bout with an elderly man that night about an hour before, and was still awake when the handmaid of Nelidowa came for her. She put a bed sheet around her shoulders and walked nude to Her Highness' bedchamber. (It must be remembered that all people, high or low, male or female, slept without nightshirts at that time, and it is said that Marie Antoinette, some fifty years later, was the first one to create the mode). Nelidowa had just washed herself and sat naked before her toilet table, while one of her maids braided her long black hair into pigtails. Nelidowa was in a good mood and told Grushenka to wait until her hair was done. In a few minutes, she took the nude girl on her lap. She inquired whether Grushenka had been poked daily, whether the instruments had been big and long, whether she had learned to make love properly and whether she liked it.

Grushenka answered automatically, “Yes,” to every question. Then Nelidowa gently opened the girl's legs and examined her. There was no change to be seen. The little love-nest was tender and innocent, as though it had never held big male machines. The lips were perhaps more red, and fuller, but still firmly closed and thin. The Princess moved her more towards her knees, opened her own legs a little and wondered at her own unattractive pleasure garden.

Apparently it was not love-making, but the hand of nature which had made the difference. Everything seemed to go well and the princess was about to send her double to bed again, but in her dissatisfaction with the imperfect loving she had received from her husband, she felt induced to play more with Grushenka's body.

Grushenka leaned closely on the shoulder of her mistress, and allowed her access to her secret parts. She knew that some servant girls were supposed to do this same thing to each other. Lady's love was at that time more common than it is today. It was an art practised with great finesse in the harems, and the Russian household was still very much like a harem. Just when Grushenka began to feel fine, the Princess got vexed that the girl should get a kick out of it, while she herself felt nothing. With her old meanness, she pinched Grushenka's thighs with her sharp finger nails, hurting the tender flesh terribly. Startled and with a cry Grushenka leapt from the woman's lap, holding the injured spot with her hands, instinctively ducking away from her mistress. Nelidowa, upset by the girl's screams, her nerves offended, said the guilty one had to be punished.

As she reached for a leather slipper, her eyes had a gruesome expression. She scolded the girl and made her lie down over her lap.

Cracking slaps fell on Grushenka's backside and thighs, the pain shot in lightning heat with each stroke through her body. The slipper was merciless. Grushenka wiggled and kicked, cried and screamed, then subdued her cries to sobs. Her buttocks and legs felt as if a red hot iron was being applied. The struggling bare form before her eyes did not leave the Princess without feeling. She started to feel rather good, and she acted accordingly. She let Grushenka fall to the carpet, then took hold of her head and forced it between her own legs. One of her hand-maids, seeing what was going on, rushed behind her mistress, embraced her and, coming with her arms from behind, drew her gently back, thus placing her in a position in which to enjoy herself.

Grushenka did not know what to do. Nelidowa took that as obstinate resistance. She let her go and pushed her away with a firm kick of her bare feet. One of her bed-maids immediately took Grushenka's place (the girl said later she had done so to avert murder, so wild were the eyes of her mistress) and with apt and learned strokes she brought the passionate young Princess to fulfillment. Finally she closed her eyes and hung exhausted in the arms of the serf girl who held her. The bed-maids carried her to her bed and put her softly between the sheets. Grushenka slipped out of the room, hoping all would be forgotten the next day. She made up her mind to ask one of the girls how to satisfy Madame in case she should again be called to this duty. The next afternoon it was clear that Nelidowa had not forgotten. Katerina was ordered to appear with Grushenka. The Princess instructed briefly and without explanation, “Give that girl fifty lashes with the cowhide and don't let her make love from now on.” Katerina closed her lips tight. If she followed her mistress' order, the girl would be dead by sunset. She could never stand it. Men died with less than that number of blows.

She led the trembling and loudly sobbing girl to the basement, where in a far corner a room for the punishment of serfs was equipped with instruments of torture. Katerina led her to the whipping block and Grushenka, her eyes full of tears, stripped without resistance and laid herself over the saddle-like middle of the block. Katerina chained her arms and feet to rings. Then she questioned the frightened girl and Grushenka, her head hanging to the floor, related the happenings of the night before. Katerina was thinking hard while she fingered the different whips to find one of lighter weight. She looked at the white body, stripped for punishment, and at the whip, then threw the whip away. “Listen!” she said. “One should not trust such a bitch as you, but I will spare you if you can keep your mouth shut. Right after this you will go to bed and stay there for two days and be sick, and you'll tell everybody that I put a wet linen over you, so as not to blister your skin. If you do as I say, you'll get off lightly, because you did not know better and it was not your fault.” Whereupon Katerina hit her several times with her hand, which did not hurt less than the slipper the night before. “And one thing more. You are going to learn how to love perfectly so that you know better next time. Understand?” Katerina had something on her mind when she made this decision. Nelidowa was using up her maids in quick order and Katerina had always to supply new ones. The Princess, cruel and beastly as she could be (like many people who come from nothing into power), was equally good-hearted and carelessly friendly when she was in a good mood. None of her personal maids liked to stay long with her. The small leather whip with the golden handle was always too near and the moods of the mistress changed too quickly. The way to get away from her was to get married. They sometimes asked her for it outright and got what they wanted, including the men they had picked for themselves. Sometimes they did what they could to get pregnant and then they were scolded or even put for a few days in a dark room with water and bread. They were never severely punished (oriental women have a religious respect for a pregnant woman) and in the end were usually supplied with a husband. Then it was up to Katerina to find another maid: handsome, with a good figure, well trained in washing and clothing the mistress, alert, keen and also a good Lesbian.

The handmaids lived in one big room where, when not busy, they waited the call of the Princess. They passed their time telling lewd stories, playing with each other, indulging in parties. They were ready for that always, because they wore only light Russian blouses with such a low neck that half of the breast was exposed and wide skirts with no other garments below. Bending down and pulling the skirt up offered the necessary position for the whip, and lying down and pulling the skirt up made ready for a little play with the tongue.

After Grushenka had spent two lonesome days in bed, she was turned over to an efficient instructress in the latter. Three or four young girls, not more than seventeen years of age, were broken in by this woman, who was above thirty and understood her job well. The girls had to give each other a work-out, and then they had to show their ability to the teacher. If it had not been for the fact that this teacher always had a switch in her hand, which she used when she was not satisfied, Grushenka would have enjoyed these instructions.

Grushenka was no more to be touched by men. The little divertissement she had while learning to be a Lady's Lover ceased also. She was at a loss what to do to satisfy the passion which she had developed. Should she take a secret lover as many other girls did?

There was the danger of being found out and having her bones broken on the rack. Should she start an affair with another girl? That again would lead to some terrible punishment. She tried her own finger, and played with herself in bed. It was not good, in fact she felt unhappy the next day and cried without reason. But while so far her life had been like that of most of the other girls, a new and exciting chapter was to begin for her.

CHAPTER FIVE

When Nelidowa went to bed for the first time with Alexey Sokolow, she understood immediately what her marriage would cost her. She had known that His Highness, the Ex-Governor, her exalted Prince-husband, was wealthy, and she would have social position and power. But there, lying next to her like an orangutan, was the ugly body of the man who was now by right and law her master, mentally and physically. He was bald but had plenty of woolly hair around the lower part of his head, growing into a thick long beard reaching to his chest, which was covered with thick black hair. His chest was enormously broad, his arms short and muscular with broad short hands, and he had an enormous belly with a tissue of muscles all around the waist line. His skin was dark, his thighs almost brown. He had small piercing eyes and a big mouth with the lower lip especially thick and sensual. During the long stupendous wedding, with a thousand new faces congratulating her, everybody bowing deeply before the Prince, who was in a jovial mood, she had been thrilled. He had seemed handsome, clad in a brilliant blue uniform studded with glittering medals and buttons of real gold and with a snow-white wig with a long pigtail, which had dangled frivolously over the gold collar of his costume. He had worn high patent leather boots and rings with dazzling stones. It was thus that Nelidowa, the bride, had first seen her new spouse. She had been startled when the cannons bellowed on their arrival at the palace and was moved to tears when the Arch-Bishop (think of it, a real Arch-Bishop performing the ceremony, and in her home town, not even the lowest monk would listen to her confession) spoke the blessings for them. She had drunk it into herself, blinded with the splendor, and had made all kinds of good promises to herself. She had been in a trance, had kissed her new handmaids and assured them a heaven on earth when they undressed her late at night, and she had gone to her new husband (according to his orders, quite nude) intending to thank and thank him, to tell him that she was going to be his chattel and his faithful wife. But when she lay next to him, when she observed how this Prince of the costly uniform had changed into an abhorrent brute, she had not been able to say a word. Prince Alexey Sokolow did not expect a word from her.

He had never thought of a woman as a human being but as his property.

He owned many and kept dozens of serf girls always near his bedroom.

He had them follow him on his voyages. He had had them since his father first ordered him to take a girl when he was sixteen years of age. He never had an affair with a society girl, because she was somebody else's property. While he made many daring business ventures and acquired the estates of many men convicted for political or other reasons during his two score years as governor, women were something not to be taken illegally. If you liked a bitch, you could buy her; there was always a price which could be met. During his trips to Western Europe, he had learned that there were harlots, whom one could buy for an hour or a day. He even brought to Russia with him some wenches who did a nice job in bed. It seemed money wasted, however, because his own slave girls could do as well and even better. They were harder, had no moods and were easily put in their places when they did not behave properly. Alexey had no special sex habits.

He did not know about the refinements of copulation; he just wanted a good lay. He wanted to put it in to his own satisfaction, regardless of the pleasure of his partner, and was satisfied when she moved up and down against him. That is, it had been so when he was younger and had not yet acquired his belly. Now he would not have been able to touch the spot with his machine had he laid himself on top of a girl.

With his growing belly he had discovered a better position; the girl had to kneel straddle-legged over him and move up and down while he lay still, moving only the muscles of his enormous buttocks alternately. He did not explain much of this to his bride. She really was stunning looking and he was well satisfied with this new acquisition to his bed assortment. He had not married her for love, and if she had not pleased him he would have had her once or twice (he liked to take maidenheads) and then probably forgotten her. But she was a good morsel and he was going to use her. He broke her in without further ado. He felt her over with his thick hands, he pulled her on top of him, he spanked her bottom a bit, in short he first took possession of her with his hands. Nelidowa tried to make it easy for herself by kissing him on the cheek (with closed eyes) by snuggling against him (to her own disgust) and by not struggling when she felt his big finger. Then, with a jerk, holding her with his hands at the waistline, he sat her with his powerful arms on top of him.

Nelidowa knew well what it was all about; a married girl friend had told her, and she knew that it would hurt her. But she was not only required to stand for it, she had to put it in herself; she had, with her own weight, to tear that little piece of skin which is precious only to virgins. She did not have the nerve. She stared with fixed eyes at the brute who was lying below her, a few hours ago still an utter stranger and now entitled to defile her. Poor Nelidowa. She took that instrument, so broad but still not so long, in her nimble fingers. She moved it towards the entrance and nervously lowered her bottom. But things needed a more vigorous handling. Alexey was prepared for that. He did not like to induce a woman to do this or that; he did not like to fumble. He had taken more virgins than one since his belly had grown. He had expected even more resistance from his bride and the usual preparations had been made. He struck a little gong on his night table. Three servant girls rushed in. Before Nelidowa knew it, two had gotten hold of her with an expert grip: one hand went underneath each knee, took hold of it and stretched the leg as far from the middle of the body as possible, the other hands grabbed her shoulders. She was lifted up a bit and lowered down carefully. He then commanded: PUSH, and both women, holding the Princess, gave a satisfactory pressure to her shoulders. Nelidowa howled, the Prince moved his bottom, the girls let go of her knees and took hold of her waist and shoulders and moved her up and down. It took about five minutes for the Prince to finish. The Princess received a washing and the Prince was likewise cleaned up. She had to lie down again alongside of her master. “You'll learn,” he said. “And now we'll show you how the next part has to be done.” He bedded her head on his hairy chest, put her hand on his machine and told her to massage it tenderly. As she did so he groaned and snorted, his fat hand on her small bottom. After a while he was ready again. The gong sounded a snappy order, and a serf girl, ready for work, entered the room. She knew what to do. He explained to his new wife that the first one was to be given with full front view; the second one reversed. He said that she was to come three times a week, that she was to learn her technique quickly and that she could now go back to her own bed chamber, because he wanted to sleep. No good-night, no caresses, no good word for her. But also no bad word. He was instituting a routine which was kept from then on. It was strictly kept because he liked her better than his slave girls and she soon learned how to please him. Also it must be remembered that he paid more for her upkeep than for that of his other female retinue.

Nelidowa did not mind the act so much; she simply closed her eyes and managed to get a thrill. What she could not stand was the play of his strong hands over her body before every jump. At this time, he hurt her quite often. He fussed around with her breasts, pinched the nipples and laughed when she tried to avoid him. It always gave her pain and a shock. But she did not complain, and even gave him gentle words and told him how happy she was. It was the price demanded of her and she paid it. The rest of their personal relations were also regulated by rules. They ate apart, except when they had guests. They went to all social affairs together and he liked to show her off. He spoke politely to her, in few words, and never told her about his own affairs. For example, she did not know that he had big estates in the south, until they travelled over them. He confided his affairs only to an old trusted man servant and to very few of his friends. He was a man of few words, used to command, and he exercised his will with great determination. Nelidowa had to find her life with her women friends. She chatted with her bed-maids and amused herself as she could with anything that was proper and becoming for the wife of a great Prince. He never beat her, as many husbands did their wives and he never lost his temper. He had resorted to the lash only a few times in his life, sending the culprit to the stable master for the punishment. However, when he was seriously dissatisfied, he would have the guilty person stand while he smacked the face a few times. He did this to his wife on occasions when her giddiness had aroused the mockery of other society people and he had heard of it. When he heard that she was beating her maids or had them beaten, he discussed it briefly with her. He said that she had the right to do so, but that if one of the servants should become seriously ill, or die on account of the punishment, he would inflict the same torture on her. “They are my property,” he added. “As well as you are.” That closed the incident because he remembered that his mother had whipped her maids also.

He had expected to have a child from the Princess; he wanted an heir to cheat his relatives. She remained barren. He had a few virgins come from one of his estates, made them and held them under strict watch, so that they could not sleep with other men. Out of four girls, two became pregnant. Therefore it was Nelidowa, not he, who was at fault. But he had decided not to take another wife. Not because he could not have gotten rid of Nelidowa or because he loved her, but that it was not so important after all. She was there and she could remain there. After the first year of her marriage, feeling secure now as a Princess and a powerful man's wife, Nelidowa was ripe to take a lover. He must be distinctly different from her husband, a bit exotic, maybe a Frenchman. As it turned out, he was a Pole.

Gustavus Swanderson, he made known, was his name. He came from Warsaw, where his father had a string of disorderly houses. Gustavus, who then bore the name of Boris, managed, during a raid on his father's establishments, to get hold of some gold which the old man kept hidden. With this, he travelled to Sweden, changed his name, bought the patent of an officer and played the nice chap for the ladies. He was decidedly romantic, with a wealth of brown hair, elegant in his movements, enterprising, and not altogether a bad boy. His hobby was drawing and his satirical sketches of society people were quite the thing. He started to learn architecture, first just to play with it, but later became interested and took part in the erection of some military buildings and forts. When Peter the Great was already quite elderly, he came to Russia and offered his services as builder. Peter, though not much impressed with him, sent him to Moscow where a big bridge was under construction and here he began to be a slight success in his line. When he met Nelidowa he was around thirty years of age, ten years her senior. He was different from the other men; his skin was white, he was not hairy, his hands were fine, almost feminine and tender. He kept himself clean and modish and his laughter was of a romantic sadness. Nelidowa selected him for herself at first sight.

The man had very little choice as to whether he wanted her or not. He had to conquer her because she wanted him. Oh, she fixed it in a very romantic way. Poems fluttered through the air; secret words passed, understood only by the conspirators. Nelidowa played her part wonderfully, with tears and resistance and with faked fainting spells.

She won him and she was very satisfied. He was so tender, so full of caresses, so loving, so romantic and when, after long kissing and playing and toying, she finally felt his staff enter her hungry crevice, she nearly fainted with delight. Of course, when he built lovely castles in the air about elopement and how they would live in Paris as happy as doves, she listened like a happy but already grown up child to a smartly told fairy tale. While she avoided saying “No,” in her heart she never considered him more than a lover. Something necessary to a woman's life, but not to be mixed up with the reality of a Princess. On the other hand, this reality bothered her three times a week when she walked nude, except for blue slippers, through different rooms to the bed of a big brute who offended her body and for whom she was nothing but an instrument for his pleasure. She could not pretend she had a headache or did not feel well, because if she did, her husband would send a servant with a brief message that he was not interested in her head but in another orifice. As long as she did not have her monthly, she had to appear. No pity from that quarter and no excuse accepted. Another incident occurred which proved to be annoying. Gustavus fell in love with her and the longer the liaison lasted the more enamoured he became. With this his jealousy developed, and while the brutal and elderly Prince in his strength entertained no slightest thought that his wife might be unfaithful, Gustavus, in his tender and weak constitution, was crazed with jealousy. She had once described to him in what way she had to satisfy her husband, and though this was still early in their affair, he was near to assassinating his rival. Lately he had pestered her to refuse to play the dutiful wife and in passionate words had threatened to take the life of the Prince and even hers. She told him she would do as he wished and, lying, said she did not go to her husband since at present he had a passion for one of the serf girls. Gustavus did not believe her fully and they had many scenes. She did not want to give up her lover. She could not stay away from her master. She had to think her way out. Suddenly she was struck with an idea: didn't they tell her that Grushenka looked just like her, not only in figure but in face also? It was whispered that they were like twins, that nobody could really say who was who. If that were true then Grushenka could take her place in the bed chamber of her spouse. This thought was so daring, so exciting, that she had to go to work right away. She commanded Grushenka to her presence and had herself and the girl clothed in dresses exactly similar and their hair done in the same way. She then had one of her maids ask other servants from the basement which of the two was the Princess. The servants looked uneasy, afraid to make a mistake. They tried to avoid a direct answer and finally pointed at random, missing the Princess as often as they chose her. That was fine! All that was needed now was for the Princess to teach Grushenka exactly how to behave with the master. She dismissed all the servants including her handmaids, locked herself in her bedroom with Grushenka and made her kneel down and swear solemnly never to betray her. She confided her plan to the girl and rehearsed to the smallest detail the way the parties took place. When Grushenka undressed, an obstacle appeared: Grushenka was clean shaven. There was nothing to do but wait until the hair had grown. So it was decided.