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don't care; and you go giving balls; and your daughter--my son's
betrothed--is to be married and make a good match, that you approve of;
while you pretend to lead a simple life, and go carpentering. How
repulsive you are to me, with your new-fangled Pharisaism.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Don't excite yourself so, Princess. Tell me what you
have come for--surely it was not simply to scold me?
PRINCESS. Yes, that too! I must find vent for all this accumulated
pain. But what I want is this: He is being removed to the Disciplinary
Battalion, and I cannot bear it. It is you who have done it. You! You!
You!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Not I, but God. And God knows how sorry I am for
you. Do not resist this will. He wants to test you. Bear the trial
meekly.
PRINCESS. I cannot bear it meekly. My whole life was wrapped up in my
son; and you have taken him from me and ruined him. I cannot be calm. I
have come to you--it is my last attempt to tell you that you have ruined
him and that it is for you to save him. Go and prevail on them to set
him free. Go and see the Governor-General, the Emperor, or whom you
please. It is your duty to do it. If you don't do it, I know what I
shall do. You will have to answer to me for it!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Teach me what to do. I am ready to do anything.
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