Part 57

“And what is your father’s Christian name?”

“Why do you want my father’s name? Call me simply Mariana, as I call you Tatiana.”

“I don’t like to somehow. You had better tell me.”

“As you like. My father’s name was Vikent. And what was your father’s?”

“He was called Osip.”

“Then I shall call you Tatiana Osipovna.”

“And I’ll call you Mariana Vikentievna. That will be splendid.”

“Won’t you take a cup of tea with us, Tatiana Osipovna?”

“For once I will, Mariana Vikentievna, although Egoritch will scold me afterwards.”

“Who is Egoritch?”

“Pavel, my husband.”

“Sit down, Tatiana Osipovna.”

“Thank you, Mariana Vikentievna.”

Tatiana sat down and began sipping her tea and nibbling pieces of sugar. She kept turning the lump of sugar round in her fingers, screwing up her eye on the side on which she bit it. Mariana entered into conversation with her and she replied quite at her ease, asked questions in her turn, and volunteered various pieces of information. She simply worshipped Solomin and put her husband only second to him. She did not, however, care for the factory life.

“It’s neither town nor country here. I wouldn’t stop an hour if it were not for Vassily Fedotitch!”

Mariana listened to her attentively, while Nejdanov, sitting a little to one side, watched her and wondered at her interest. For Mariana it was all so new, but it seemed to him that he had seen crowds of women like Tatiana and spoken to them hundreds of times.

“Do you know, Tatiana Osipovna?” Mariana began at last; “you think that we want to teach the people, but we want to serve them.”

“Serve them? Teach them; that’s the best thing you can do for them. Look at me, for instance. When I married Egoritch I didn’t so much as know how to read and write. Now I’ve learned, thanks to Vassily Fedotitch. He didn’t teach me himself, he paid an old man to do it. It was he who taught me. You see I’m still young, although I’m grown up.”

Mariana was silent.

“I wanted to learn some sort of trade, Tatiana Osipovna,” Mariana began; “we must talk about that later on. I’m not good at sewing, but if I could learn to cook, then I could go out as a cook.”

Tatiana became thoughtful.

“Why a cook? Only rich people and merchants keep cooks; the poor do their own cooking. And to cook at a mess for workmen... why you couldn’t do that!”

“But I could live in a rich man’s house and get to know poor people. How else can I get to know them? I shall not always have such an opportunity as I have with you.”

Tatiana turned her empty cup upside down on the saucer.

“It’s a difficult matter,” she said at last with a sigh, “and can’t be settled so easily. I’ll do what I can, but I’m not very clever. We must talk it over with Egoritch. He’s clever if you like! Reads all sorts of books and has everything at his fingers’ ends.” At this point she glanced at Mariana who was rolling up a cigarette.

“You’ll excuse me, Mariana Vikentievna, but if you really want to become simplified you must give that up.” She pointed to the cigarette. “If you want to be a cook, that would never do. Everyone would see at once that you are a lady.”

Mariana threw the cigarette out of the window.

“I won’t smoke any more.... It’s quite easy to give that up. Women of the people don’t smoke, so I suppose I ought not to.”