ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and Nicholas Ivánovich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage him, _J'aurais trouvé tout ça très gentil_;[1] but when I see that _your_ husband is playing the fool--yes, simply playing the fool--then I can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your husband, Nicholas, too. _Je lui dirai son fait, ma chère._[2] I am not afraid of anyone. [1] I should have considered it all very pretty. [2] I will tell him the plain fact, my dear. MARY IVÁNOVNA. I don't feel the least bit hurt; don't I see it all myself? but I don't think it so very important. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you let it go on, you will be beggared. _Du train que cela va ..._[3] [3] At the rate things are going. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Come! Beggared indeed! Not with an income like theirs. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Yes, beggared! And please don't interrupt me, my dear! Anything a _man_ does always seems right to you! PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Oh! I don't know. I was saying---- ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because when you men begin playing the fool, _il n'y a pas de raison que ça finisse_.[4] I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not allow it. _J'aurais mis bon ordre à toutes ces lubies._[5] What does it all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons everything, gives everything away, _et fait le généreux à droite et à gauche_.[6] I know how it will end! _Nous en savons quelque chose._[7] [4] There is no reason for it to stop. [5] I should put an end to all these fads. [6] And plays the bountiful left and right. [7] We know something about it. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH [to Mary Ivánovna]. But do explain to me, Mary, what is this new movement? Of course I understand Liberalism, County Councils, the Constitution, schools, reading-rooms, and _tout ce qui s'en suit_;[8] as well as Socialism, strikes, and an eight-hour day; but what is this? Explain it to me. [8] All the rest of it. MARY IVÁNOVNA. But he told you about it yesterday. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. I confess I did not understand. The Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount--and that churches are unnecessary! But then how is one to pray, and all that? MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes. That is the worst of it. He would destroy everything, and give us nothing in its place. PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. How did it begin? MARY IVÁNOVNA. It began last year, after his sister died. He was very fond of her, and her death had a very great effect on him. He became quite morose, and was always talking about death; and then, you know, he fell ill himself with typhus. When he recovered, he was quite a changed man. ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But, all the same, he came in spring to see us again in Moscow, and was very nice, and played bridge. _Il était très gentil et comme tout le monde._[9]