began with fierce strokes to whip the inside and the front of the thighs. Grushenka was so thoroughly paralyzed and frightened that she did not dare to close her legs or to protect herself with her hands, although she moved instinctively to do so. She received about ten strokes in this way, and although Katerina avoided striking the exposed sex, for Grushenka it was an agony which seemed endless.
Finally it was over. Katerina's eyes remained fixed on the growth of hair at the juncture of the soft thighs. She had forgotten to find out whether this girl was a virgin or not and she stooped without ceremony to make the examination. As soon as she touched the lips Grushenka became convulsive, partly because she expected more painful punishment, partly because she was sensitive at that spot. Katerina pushed her down and shoved her finger in until she found the resistance of the membrane. Grushenka was still a virgin, and as far as Katerina was concerned, she should remain so. She was through with Grushenka now and ordered her to get up, and looked with disdain at the crying, twitching face. What a soft girl, who could not stand such a little punishment! Without much enthusiasm, she turned to the blonde creature. She ordered her to lie on her back and to move her legs up so that her knees touched her shoulders. The blonde did so without hesitation. She had thick skin and a whipping more or less did not matter much in her young life. Katerina felt the flesh of the firm bottom which was put conveniently at her disposal. She was hardly able to squeeze it because the flesh was so hard that it did not move under her fingers. She gave the girl some twenty strokes, not so severe as those she had given Grushenka, and the blonde one counted the strokes herself in a subdued but clear voice. It was one of those quick and unexciting beatings which mean nothing. When it was over the blonde one rubbed herself briskly and that was all. Katerina had both girls kiss the end of the switch which she held in her hands, then ordered them to go to bed and stay there until they were called the next day to their respective duties. The blonde was to join the sewing crew, because she was handy with the needle after her education by the cousin, and Katerina herself would take care of Grushenka. Both girls crept dully between the sheets, Grushenka sobbing, the other one quite content. “What do they want of me?” sobbed Grushenka. “What can they want…?” until she fell asleep.
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning, quite early, Grushenka, who had slept soundly in a bed that seemed to her the best she had ever had, was awakened by noisy shouting. With wondering eyes she looked about her. A hundred girls and women seemed to fill the big loft, yawning, shouting, babbling and laughing in a confusion of washing and teasing and dressing and admonishments to hurry up.
Actually, there were only sixty-three servant girls housed here, ranging in age from fifteen to about thirty- five. Younger and older women were not kept in the city palace. The girls put on all kinds of dresses, according to their duties; the kitchen maids, dark woolen garments; the linen and silver maids, a white uniform-like costume; the sewing squad, flowery cashmeres. The personal chamber and bedmaids of the Princess, about eight or ten in all, and the special favorites of the Prince, slept near the apartments of their masters.
Some privileged elderly women and cooks had quarters in the basement.
Soon they were all sitting on long benches in a big hall near the kitchen in the basement, and steaming soups and white bread were devoured in great quantities. Katerina always saw to it that the servants got plenty to eat. Not that she was concerned with their likes and desires. She simply wanted to keep them content and healthy, to enable them to perform their duties to the last ounce. Katerina was quite a fanatic on this point and any shirker could be sure of the whip, if not of a harder punishment. After breakfast, Grushenka received the curt order to go to the bathroom. She could not imagine why. She had never before been allowed more than one bath in a month; bathing was expensive because it meant fire-wood. Yet, now she was bathed and scrubbed thoroughly. Furthermore, the bath-girls were told to clean her up every day right after breakfast and to see to it that she was spotless or else they would be sorry. The bath-girls took no chances and they scrubbed and rubbed and cleaned her everywhere and anywhere. Grushenka was then told to take her clothes over her arm and to wait in the try-on room for Katerina. There she sat now, on an oaken trunk full of precious silks and embroideries, shivering after the bath, her clothes clutched to her body. Many maids passed through the room, walking here and there, some times giving her a friendly nod, mostly not taking notice of her. Presently Katerina appeared, and seeing Grushenka, she went to a closet and got a box of powder and a big powder puff. She proceeded to teach her how to powder her whole body, omitting no part. Then she suddenly remembered the shaving business. She sent for Boris, who was soon there with his outfit of razors and soap. “You heard what Her Highness said yesterday,” she addressed the barber. “Shave cleanly her hair under the arms and between the legs. But don't cut her. We paid a big price for the bitch.” Boris made Grushenka hold both her arms straight up and soaped and shaved her under the arms, quite cleverly and quickly. He then glanced over to see if Katerina was still there. He had never before shaved a girl's pubic area and he wanted to have some fun with it. But Katerina stood solidly there, leaning on an oaken stick and looking sternly at Boris, who quickly avoided her eyes.
Grushenka was now laid on a table with her legs apart. Katerina saw that the marks of the switch were clearly visible in red-violet welts. “She has a softer skin than all of them,” thought the old housekeeper, but not with pity, rather with a resolution that she would thrash the girl more often in order to get her used to it.
Grushenka was trembling nervously as Boris, with his scissors, cut the long curls from her Mount of Venus and below. He then soaped her with his brush and expanded the skin with two fingers of his left hand. There followed the soft grating of the knife, that cut the hair closely to the white flesh. He started to put his fingers between the folds as if to extend the skin better, but Katerina tapped sharply with her stick and he thought better of it. A wet towel was now applied and the job was done. Katerina called out to the sewing rooms next door that a couple of dressing girls should come in. She had Grushenka dressed up in one of the Princess' outfits to see whether she would really do as a model for the new summer wardrobe.
Long silk stockings were applied, a chemise with golden threads was put on her. Long trousers, fitted and closed with ribbons on the ankles, came next. A crimson bodice without stays was tied on. (Stays were worn in Western Europe at that time, but not in Russia, where the elegant women liked to show their breasts with the nipples sticking out above their dresses.) A tunic, which took the place of the skirt and blouse, was then hooked and buttoned, and over this fell a long loose cloak, leaving the arms underneath bare. During this procedure all the girls of the tailoring and sewing departments had left their work and watched eagerly. When Grushenka was ready and was told to walk up and down the large room, turning and displaying the costume and herself, the watchers clapped their hands and stamped their feet.
“That is our Princess!” they cried. “Just like her! Can you imagine?”
Katerina heard this outburst with satisfaction. Yes, she had found the clotheshorse for her mistress. Grushenka was instructed that she was to be used from now on as the fitting model for Her Highness. Then and there started for Grushenka a long period of waiting and dreaming, dreaming and waiting until some dressmaker would come around and fit some garments on her, turning her around and around, trying on, admiring his own craftsmanship, or cursing the sewing girls who had done a bad job. These try-ons were at first very displeasing to Grushenka, because all these workers, men and women, some of them serfs, some of them free people, who called themselves artists, touched her body all over and took many liberties with her. This was all the more so because she was such a perfect counterfeit of her Madame, before whom these men crawled on their bellies. Thus it was fine fun for them to paw her breasts, to pinch her nipples and to play around quite abundantly with her privates. This last Grushenka hated especially and she tried to shove them away, only to be stuck painfully with a needle in the buttocks or in the breast. So she got used to it, especially when she found that when she resisted she was plagued much more, but if she kept still, the men were not so insistent. Months went by this way, first in the palace in Moscow, then at one of the great estates in the country; months of dreaming and waiting. Of course, Grushenka, meanwhile, got well acquainted with the great household. She listened to the gossip about the brutal and drunken Prince, whom the Princess hated, but played up to; of the young lover the Princess had taken; of the way she had her bed-maids make love to her to satisfy her everlasting cravings. But Grushenka heard these tales without taking notice and nobody seemed to take much notice of her. It was hard to say of what she was thinking, maybe of the clouds which passed along or of a bird in the big tree outside the window. Then came the day which changed her whole life. The Princess had been out to a party and it had turned out badly. Even her lover had neglected her, nay, had flirted openly with a rival. The Princess had drunk too much, had had an argument with another lady, and her husband, the Prince, furious at such misbehavior, had slapped her face violently while driving home.
