.. But tell me, baroness,
do you possibly know even one married lady with a family who isn't
in secret giving herself up either for the sake of passion to a
young man, or for the sake of money to an old one? I know very
well that fifty percent of you are kept by lovers, while the
remaining fifty, of those who are older, keep young lads. I also
know that many--ah, how many!--of you cohabit with your fathers,
brothers, and even sons, but these secrets you hide in some sort
of a hidden casket. And that's all the difference between us. We
are fallen, but we don't lie and don't pretend, but you all fall,
and lie to boot. Think it over for yourself; now--in whose favour
is this difference?"
"Bravo, Tamarochka, that's the way to serve them!" shouted Manka,
without getting up from the floor; dishevelled, fair, curly,
resembling at this moment a thirteen-year-old girl.
"Now, now!" urged Jennka as well, flashing with her flaming eyes.
"Why not, Jennechka? I'll go further than that. Out of us
scarcely, scarcely one in a thousand has committed abortion. But
all of you several times over.
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