I, you know, am a very abstemious
man. I only sat and soaked up cognac, like a sponge, with a
certain reporter I know. Well, all the others fell from grace
however. And so, toward morning, for some reason or other, I went
all to pieces. I got so sad and full of pity from looking at these
unhappy women. I also thought, now, of how our sisters enjoy our
regard, love, protection; how our mothers are surrounded with
reverent adoration. Just let some one say one rude word to them,
shove them, offend them; we are ready to chew his throat off!
Isn't that the truth?"
"M-m? ..." drawled out the Georgian, half questioningly, half
expectantly, and squinted his eyes to one side.
"Well, then I thought: why, now, any blackguard, any
whippersnapper, any shattered ancient can take any one of these
women to himself for a minute or for a night, as a momentary whim;
and indifferently, one superfluous time more--the thousand and
first--profane and defile in her that which is the most precious
in a human being--love... Do you understand--revile, trample it
underfoot, pay for the visit and walk away in peace, his hands in
his pockets, whistling.
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