Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Alexandra Decides to Study Medicine
After a general examination and an interview, the medical faculty admitted Alexandra.
Full of energy, she threw herself into her course work, the delivery would steal the spring
semester.
She had hoped to persuade Konrad to hire a wet nurse. But when she asked him,
Konrad had, for the first time, become seriously annoyed. He glowered at her. "A wet nurse?
You are not in such a hurry to get finished that you could not feed the child yourself."
She had never seen him loose his equanimity, which she depended on in her
spontaneity. Was it the stress of his work, the drawn-out, embarrassing departmental dispute
about the ball? Wet nurses were a common institution in their circles. Clad in white uniforms
and wearing conspicuous headgear, a small army of them offered their services to the better
families. But she saw that he was serious, and gave in to his demand.
Now she was trying to beat her course load by working overtime.
A few weeks into the semester the faculty notified her that they would allow her a full
semester credit for two courses she had taken in Tiflis, chemistry and biology, which Konrad
had taught.
Konrad laughed with a trace of envious admiration. She had been lucky again!
She grew larger, the baby could no longer be hidden. Her pregnant presence at the
university raised many eyebrows, but her radiant beauty protected her and her reserved poise
simply forbade any unwarranted comments.
Her professors began addressing her with a deferential ‘Princess Dadiani-Rost’. She
was amused to have inadvertently acquired this impressive double name. However, her final
vindication was that, whatever course she took, she succeeded with the highest grades, and
after a few months her teachers' skepticism and condescension changed into respect. She
became a heroine not only for her co-students but for the entire faculty.
Her intellectual success gave her immense satisfaction and reawakened her old, cocky
self-assurance.
Konrad had to restrain himself at times and mobilize all his humor to put up with her. Not
that she neglected him in any arguable way. He continued to punctually find his breakfast and
dinner every day, her kitchen was spotless, but she jumped out of bed before he could properly
wake up—he had always been slow in the morning—and on many nights she would not retire
until midnight. Their spontaneous love-making, most often initiated by her in the past, had
become less frequent.
Konrad concluded that he was jealous. He felt pushed from his singular position in her
life by the child, by her ambitious study program and her intellectual success—all problems that
were of his own making, which he could only indirectly blame on her. Look at yourself, he
thought, after all it turns out that it is not as easy as you had imagined to live with a working
woman!
Alexandra kept up a faithful correspondence with her father. At least once a week they
exchanged letters.
Konrad scrupulously adhered to two principles during their married life, he never read
Alexandra’s personal correspondence, and he never concerned himself with their finances.
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