PART I // chapter 3-6

[모나리자]

그리고 표트르 페트로비치는 여러 가지 징후로 판단할 때, 철저히 존경할 만한 사람입니다. 실제로 첫 방문에서 그는 실용적인 사람이라고 말했지만, 여전히 그가 표현한 대로 '우리의 가장 떠오르는 세대'의 신념을 많이 공유하고 있으며 모든 편견에 반대합니다. 그는 훨씬 더 많은 것을 말했는데, 그는 약간 오만해 보이고 남의 말을 잘 들어주는 것을 좋아하지만, 이것은 거의 악덕이 아닙니다.

물론 저는 거의 이해하지 못했지만, 두니아는 그가 학식이 많지는 않지만 똑똑하고 성격이 좋은 것 같다고 설명했습니다. 당신은 당신 자매의 성격을 알고 있습니다, 로디아. 그녀는 단호하고, 현명하고, 인내심이 많고 관대한 소녀이지만, 저는 그녀가 열정적인 마음을 가지고 있다는 것을 잘 알고 있습니다. 물론, 그의 편이나 그녀의 편에 큰 사랑은 없지만, 두니아는 영리한 여자이고 천사의 마음을 가지고 있으며, 그녀의 남편을 행복하게 하는 것을 그녀의 의무로 삼을 것이고, 남편은 그녀의 행복을 그의 보살핌으로 삼을 것입니다. 우리는 그것을 의심할 만한 충분한 이유가 없지만, 이 문제가 매우 서둘러 처리되었다는 것은 인정해야 합니다.

게다가 그는 매우 신중한 사람이고, 그는 확실히 자신의 행복이 두니아와 함께 있을수록 더욱 안전해질 것이라는 것을 스스로 알게 될 것입니다. 그리고 성격의 일부 결함, 일부 습관, 심지어 의견의 특정 차이에 관해서는 - 실제로 가장 행복한 결혼 생활에서도 불가피한 - 두니아는 그 모든 것과 관련하여 자신을 믿고, 불안할 것이 없으며, 미래의 관계가 명예롭고 솔직할 수만 있다면 많은 것을 참을 준비가 되어 있다고 말했습니다. 예를 들어, 그는 처음에 나에게 다소 갑작스럽게 보였지만, 그것은 그가 직설적인 사람이기 때문일 수도 있고, 의심할 여지 없이 그럴 것입니다.

예를 들어, 두 번째 방문에서 두니아의 동의를 받은 후 대화 중에 그는 두니아를 만나기 전에 좋은 평판을 가진

지참금 없이, 무엇보다도 가난을 경험한 여자와 결혼하기로 마음먹었다고 선언했습니다. 그가 설명했듯이, 남자는 아내에게 빚을 져서는 안 되지만 아내는 남편을 은인으로 여기는 것이 더 낫기 때문입니다. 나는 그가 나보다 더 친절하고 정중하게 표현했다는 것을 덧붙여야 합니다. 왜냐하면 나는 그의 실제 문구를 잊고 의미만 기억하기 때문입니다. 그리고 게다가 그것은 분명히 의도적으로 말한 것이 아니라

대화의 열기 속에서 흘러나온 것이어서 그는 나중에 자신을 바로잡고 부드럽게 만들려고 했지만, 그래도 그것은 다소 무례하게 보였고, 나는 나중에 두니아에게 그렇게 말했습니다. 하지만 두니아는 화가 나서 '말은 행동이 아니다'고 대답했고, 물론 그것은 전적으로 사실입니다. 두니아는 결심하기 전까지 밤새 잠을 자지 못했고, 내가 잠들었다고 생각하고 침대에서 일어나 밤새 방을 왔다 갔다 했습니다. 마침내 그녀는 이콘 앞에 무릎을 꿇고 오랫동안 열렬히 기도했고 아침에 그녀는 결심했다고 말했습니다.

"나는 이미 표트르 페트로비치가 상트페테르부르크로 떠난다고 언급했습니다. 그는 그곳에서 많은 사업을 하고 있고 법률 사무소를 열고 싶어합니다. 그는 수년간 민사 및 상사 소송을 진행해 왔고 얼마 전에 중요한 소송에서 승소했습니다. 그는 상원에서 중요한 소송을 진행해야 하기 때문에 상트페테르부르크에 있어야 합니다. 그러니 로디아, 그는 당신에게 모든 면에서 가장 큰 도움이 될 수 있고, 두니아와 나는 오늘부터 당신이 확실히 경력을 시작할 수 있고 당신의 미래가 당신을 위해 정해지고 보장되었다고 생각할 수 있다는 데 동의했습니다.

오, 이것이 이루어지기만 한다면! 이것은 우리가 그것을 신의 섭리적 축복으로만 볼 수 있을 만큼 큰 혜택일 것입니다. 두니아는 다른 것은 꿈꾸지 않습니다. 우리는 이미 표트르 페트로비치에게 이 주제에 대해 몇 마디를 하려고 했습니다.

----------------------------------------------------------------

And Pyotr Petrovitch, judging by many indications, is a thoroughly estimable man. At his first visit, indeed, he told us that he was a practical man, but still he shares, as he expressed it, many of the convictions ‘of our most rising generation’ and he is an opponent of all prejudices. He said a good deal more, for he seems a little conceited and likes to be listened to, but this is scarcely a vice.

I, of course, understood very little of it, but Dounia explained to me that, though he is not a man of great education, he is clever and seems to be good-natured. You know your sister’s character, Rodya. She is a resolute, sensible, patient and generous girl, but she has a passionate heart, as I know very well. Of course, there is no great love either on his side, or on hers, but Dounia is a clever girl and has the heart of an angel, and will make it her duty to make her husband happy who on his side will make her happiness his care. Of that we have no good reason to doubt, though it must be admitted the matter has been arranged in great haste.

Besides he is a man of great prudence and he will see, to be sure, of himself, that his own happiness will be the more secure, the happier Dounia is with him. And as for some defects of character, for some habits and even certain differences of opinion—which indeed are inevitable even in the happiest marriages—Dounia has said that, as regards all that, she relies on herself, that there is nothing to be uneasy about, and that she is ready to put up with a great deal, if only their future relationship can be an honourable and straightforward one. He struck me, for instance, at first, as rather abrupt, but that may well come from his being an outspoken man, and that is no doubt how it is.

For instance, at his second visit, after he had received Dounia’s consent, in the course of conversation, he declared that before making Dounia’s acquaintance, he had made up his mind to marry a girl

of good reputation, without dowry and, above all, one who had experienced poverty, because, as he explained, a man ought not to be indebted to his wife, but that it is better for a wife to look upon her husband as her benefactor. I must add that he expressed it more nicely and politely than I have done, for I have forgotten his actual phrases and only remember the meaning. And, besides, it was obviously not said of design,

but slipped out in the heat of conversation, so that he tried afterwards to correct himself and smooth it over, but all the same it did strike me as somewhat rude, and I said so afterwards to Dounia. But Dounia was vexed, and answered that ‘words are not deeds,’ and that, of course, is perfectly true. Dounia did not sleep all night before she made up her mind, and, thinking that I was asleep, she got out of bed and was walking up and down the room all night; at last she knelt down before the ikon and prayed long and fervently and in the morning she told me that she had decided.

“I have mentioned already that Pyotr Petrovitch is just setting off for Petersburg, where he has a great deal of business, and he wants to open a legal bureau. He has been occupied for many years in conducting civil and commercial litigation, and only the other day he won an important case. He has to be in Petersburg because he has an important case before the Senate. So, Rodya dear, he may be of the greatest use to you, in every way indeed, and Dounia and I have agreed that from this very day you could definitely enter upon your career and might consider that your future is marked out and assured for you.

Oh, if only this comes to pass! This would be such a benefit that we could only look upon it as a providential blessing. Dounia is dreaming of nothing else. We have even ventured already to drop a few words on the subject to Pyotr Petrovitch.