Action had to be taken before Serge came back, for he would strangle the old man upon the first suspicion. She suggested that they should get hold of some male acquaintances of Madame, should get some men from the police station and- But now Madame was calm again and took charge. She selected a half dozen of her strongest stable men and they drove at great speed to the castle of the old Prince. Serge had not yet returned. The old Prince, upon seeing his relative, became hysterical, interrupting his joy with shouts of fear. Serge, whom he called an almighty devil, would kill them all, he proclaimed. His fear did not lessen even when they brought Serge before him, chained and shackled. It had been an easy job. When he had re-entered the house, the six men of Madame had fallen upon him and subdued him in no time. A police-picket was sent for. In the presence of the lieutenant, the old Prince made his accusation against his serf and demanded that he be hanged. And so they led Serge away. The captain of the police decided not to string him up, but to send him to Siberia. But it never came to that. Serge, who had been stunned in the beginning, had a violent fit in the evening and tried to break loose. The answer was the knout, and the policeman who exercised the whipping hit him so awkwardly that he broke his back. Serge died during the night-this all can be read in the old family papers of the family.
Asantcheiev. There also can be found that the old Prince gave Grushenka her freedom and a handsome dowry. He lived on for many months in peace and happiness. During this time Grushenka nursed him.
After his death, the relative who helped to free him inherited and lived in his castle-her name is reported as Countess Natalia Alexiejew. Grushenka stayed with the Countess Natalia until-well, the next chapter will tell you.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Countess Natalia Alexiejew and her husband, the Count Vasilis, were Russian aristocrats of the old, conservative order, a kind Grushenka had not yet met. They were religious, straightforward and strict, but just. They felt themselves the absolute owners of their serfs, but felt toward them more like a father or a mother than a master. Their day started early with a prayer meeting which was attended by the whole household. This was followed by breakfast at a long table, the masters presiding. If there was not a special party with guests, masters and servants ate at the same table and of the same dishes. After that, work was done.
Laziness or stupidity were at first treated with admonishing words. Only in rare and grave cases was the whip resorted to. The masters did not swing it themselves, however, but sent the culprit to the stable where an old and trusted coachman named Joseph laid the guilty one over a bundle of hay and administered the beating. (Joseph was a Judas and beat them longer and harder than he was told to. The other serfs hated him. They took good care not to be remiss in their duties so as to stay clear of his fangs.) Furthermore, no erotic abuse took place in the household. The aristocratic couple shared the same bed throughout the year. The Count, who was past fifty, had lost his sexual aspirations, and the Countess, who was ten years his junior, was apparently satisfied with what he was able to let her have. She was nice and plump, with firm flesh and many pretty dimples.
She had motherly ways, though always a bit preachy, and was beloved by all her servants. A few weeks after the death of the old Prince she approached Grushenka and asked her what she intended to do. Did she want to leave her? Should she look around for “a husband for her?
Would she like to settle down on a little farm? What were her plans?
Grushenka had no answer ready. After talking it over they decided that Grushenka should stay at the house for the present, and the Countess put her in charge of the linen and silver room.
Grushenka now carried on her belt a chain with many big keys which opened drawers and chests. She was proud to take care of countless sets of linen, from the coarse and daily-used bed linen of the serfs to the finest table damask, and of hundreds of pieces of china and many valuable silver ornaments which were put on the table on special occasions only. She had ten girls working under her, cleaning, repairing and sewing the new linen which had been woven by another group of girls or by the peasant women on one of the estates.
Her pride made her ambitious to have the utensils entrusted to her always at their very best. This ambition did not meet completely with the zeal of the girls working for her, especially in the beginning when they started to clean up after the years of disorder that preceded the death of the old Prince. She began to admonish her girls with friendly words, but she was timid and they laughed behind her back. It took all her courage to pinch one or the other on the arm, and she felt that as soon as she turned around they made faces at her and giggled. At last she complained to the Countess, who gave the matter serious thought. She advised her as follows: “The trouble with peasants,” said the Countess, “is that they won't hear with their ears until they have felt with their backs. It won't do for you to report them to me and for me to have them sent to the stable. They'll only pin on you the stigma of a traitor and they'll think you're afraid of them and will play you plenty of tricks. No-you will have to keep some good fresh switches in salt water in your working pantry. If you beat one or two of their backs sore, they'll kiss the hem of your sleeves.” After this advice, Grushenka got the switches and gave the girls a warning, but she made very little headway. The girls joked about the switches and broke the stems in the middle when she was not looking. There was one in particular, a big fat girl, about thirty years of age. She had been married twice to farmers, both of whom had died, and had always returned to the inner circle of the household because she had been one of the last favorites of the deceased Prince. She used to call Grushenka “baby,” and told stories of her married life which made the other girls stop working. She herself would do almost nothing in a day's time, and, when Grushenka pinched her on the arm, she would grin and say: “Why dear, do that again, please. It feels nice.” She certainly did riot feel it very much. She had a tough, brown skin and the hard flesh of her peasant stock. Her overgrown, full breasts had first attracted the old Prince when he saw her once swimming in the river of his estate. She used to kneel down before him, put his weapon between her breasts, press them gently together and rub until she felt his love juices flowing over her throat. She imagined that she had superior rights to Grushenka, hence her heckling and resistance. Therefore when she aroused Grushenka's temper again and again, Grushenka finally lost her patience and condemned her to twenty-five strokes over the bare buttocks with the switch. The girl arose unmoved, took some hair pins out of her hair and with them pinned her skirt up over her back.
With slow movements and ceremony she” removed her drawers, laid herself on the floor, bottom-up and said sarcastically: “Please hit me, sweetheart. I want to be heated up.” Grushenka knelt with one knee on the back of the culprit and put the bucket with the switches next to her on the floor. In front of her were two enormous buttocks-two big brown globes, muscular and steel-hard. The girl held her thighs closely together and strained her muscles in order to ward off the strokes. She was not at all afraid, because Grushenka was not very strong. Grushenka felt that if she did not beat the culprit into submission she would lose the respect of all her girls, and she pressed her lips together in anger. “Open up your legs as wide as you can,” she ordered curtly. “Certainly, my dove,” retorted the girl mockingly; “anything to please my little pet.” She spread her legs as wide as she could. At the end of the cleft appeared a great cavern-a hair-infested grotto which seemed able to hold a big stick. The thick flesh on the end of the cleft was not muscular, and the inside of the thighs next to the orifice attracted Grushenka's eyes. She directed the switch at these parts. At first, being greatly excited herself, she laid the strokes weakly and swiftly. But when the girl did not seem to mind at all, even muttering flip remarks, Grushenka began to whip her with a force which she herself had not suspected she had. The flesh around the grotto became crimson. The first drops of blood appeared. “The girl began to move-uneasily. The ends of the switch were cutting the lower part of the lips of the orifice. Soon the switch had broken to pieces.
Grushenka picked a new one. Her hand got sore, but she did not mind.
She was breathless, but she whipped and whipped, her eyes directed towards the end of the cleft and neglecting entirely the big, muscular thighs. Finally the girl felt the pain keenly. She had stood it at first to show up Grushenka and to prove that she could not hurt her. But now her pain became too violent. She closed her legs.
Grushenka, sensing victory and submission, would not have it so.
She shouted at her to open up again, and, when the girl did not obey, she bent over in a rage and bit her viciously on one of the big buttocks. The girl groaned and cried out, but reluctantly opened her enormous thighs again. This was not enough for Grushenka who jerked them open as far as it was possible and resumed her whipping until the girl prayed for mercy and to be forgiven. Grushenka stopped beating, but she was not yet through with her. She told the girl not to move until she had washed her up herself. In the hollow of her hand, she took salt water from the bucket and rubbed it into the raw, beaten flesh. The sting of the cold water shot up the girl's back and, as she instinctively recoiled, Grushenka manhandled her love-nest, pinching her all around the Venus' Hill and
