The Torrents Of Spring

XXX
The transition from despair to sadness, and from that to ‘gentle resignation’,
was accomplished fairly quickly in Frau Lenore; but that gentle
resignation, too, was not slow in changing into a secret satisfaction,
which was, however, concealed in every way and suppressed for the
sake of appearances. Sanin had won Frau Lenore’s heart from the first
day of their acquaintance; as she got used to the idea of his being her
son-in-law, she found nothing particularly distasteful in it, though she
thought it her duty to preserve a somewhat hurt, or rather careworn, expression
on her face. Besides, everything that had happened the last few
days had been so extraordinary… . One thing upon the top of another.
As a practical woman and a mother, Frau Lenore considered it her duty
also to put Sanin through various questions; and Sanin, who, on setting
out that morning to meet Gemma, had not a notion that he should marry
her – it is true he did not think of anything at all at that time, but simply
gave himself up to the current of his passion – Sanin entered, with perfect
readiness, one might even say with zeal, into his part – the part of
the betrothed lover, and answered all her inquiries circumstantially, exactly,
with alacrity. When she had satisfied herself that he was a real nobleman
by birth, and had even expressed some surprise that he was not a
prince, Frau Lenore assumed a serious air and ‘warned him betimes’ that
she should be quite unceremoniously frank with him, as she was forced
to be so by her sacred duty as a mother! To which Sanin replied that he
expected nothing else from her, and that he earnestly begged her not to
spare him!
Then Frau Lenore observed that Herr Klüber – as she uttered the
name, she sighed faintly, tightened her lips, and hesitated – Herr Klüber,
Gemma’s former betrothed, already possessed an income of eight thousand
guldens, and that with every year this sum would rapidly be increased;
and what was his, Herr Sanin’s income? ‘Eight thousand
guldens,’ Sanin repeated deliberately… . ‘That’s in our money … about
fifteen thousand roubles… . My income is much smaller. I have a small
estate in the province of Tula… . With good management, it might yield
– and, in fact, it could not fail to yield – five or six thousand … and if I go
into the government service, I can easily get a salary of two thousand a
year.’
‘Into the service in Russia?’ cried Frau Lenore, ‘Then I must part with
Gemma!’
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